The message on the machine was from a contractor/carpenter who had worked on our home several times. He was calling to see if we might have any work for him to do as outside work slows down in the middle of winter.
Steve was a humble man who took deep pride in each job. He did his work with excellence, wanting everything to be perfect upon completion.
As I returned his call, the thought came to me …
Jesus was a carpenter.
Jesus – The Word, the logos – present and active at creation. Creator become carpenter. The One who created everything was a carpenter on earth, now building common day things.
I wondered if He had built varied pieces of furniture, fences, or a trough even. Did He find the days long, the work hard, and His customers picky with His work? Did He find Himself tired, sweaty, and hungry as He returned back home at the end of the day?
Jesus set aside His divinity, His place alongside His Father, to become one of us. A human. He wanted to be near us and understand life from our perspective.
More so, He wanted to show us the attitude we would need to live this life:
“Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.” (Philippians 2:5b-7, NLT)
Jesus set aside His divinity with all His privileges and became one of us, and this took humility.
Humility, the attitude we are also to have each day, in all we do and with one another. This will require self-denial, a bending low, and obedience. To live this way will demand much of us yet we are told:
“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” (verse 5a)
Jesus knew the challenge life would bring us every day. It is the very reason He came to show us the way, living as an example for us to follow:
“This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:14, NLT)
He gets it, gets us, for He faced all that we face. There is not a thing He has not experienced, nor cannot understand. The writer of Hebrews continues to tell us how we can live with a Christ-like attitude, how we can obtain this attitude:
“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (verse 16, NLT)
We come boldly to the throne. He understands and in response to our cries, will supply us with the grace to live humbly with the attitude of Christ.
Jesus.
Our perfect example
lived humbly, vulnerably, and obediently.Â
May we have the same attitude as Christ Jesus.
Today I am joining … Porch Stories and Let’s Have Coffee and Woman to Woman and Recharge Wednesday and #WriterWednesday .
How true! Jesus worked an earthly trade. He chose to teach us humility and the power of making things with your own hands. Humility, obedience, and vulnerability are in my prayers today, thanks to you, Joanne!
I love this, Joanne. I’ve never thought much about the sawdust and sweat Jesus certainly faced daily. It makes this season of pressing through a long winter more bearable as I remember that he understands and has endured even the most mundane of human moments. Thanks for this today, friend!
Thank you. I needed the reminder to come boldly to the throne today.
Having just read D.A. Carson’s little Philippians commentary, these words really resonate for me this morning. I am so full of myself sometimes, and yet Jesus submitted to a the greatest emptying of self that has ever occurred in history!
Boldly. He likes bold women. He died for them! xo
This is such. Beautiful post! GOd has been talking to me about humility. I love and am convicted by Phil 2:1-8. To live like Jesus . . . We can’t do it without humility. I always find it amazing that Jesus did exchange divinity for humanity, so He could know our condition first-hand.
Thanks for these beuatiful words today. You’ve set my mind to thinking . . .
What a cool thought coming from a contractor-call. Thanks for sharing this reflection!!
Joanne, this such a good thing for me to read as I look for practical ways to let humility guide me this year. Asking God to help me practice humility seems like a no-brainer, but I often don’t even realize humility is what I need in a certain situation unless the Holy Spirit somehow nudges my heart about it! That’s when I really need His help … to actually walk humbly even if I’d rather respond differently! Thank you for pointing us to the best example of humility we could ever hope to follow!
If we focused only on Jesus’s humility, it would be enough to radically transform us! Thanks for bringing this to the forefront of our minds, Joanne. May I empty myself out more today and follow in Jesus’s footsteps.