| The degree of difficulty is getting past the thought that form suggests a concrete existence of a spiritual existence. God is spirit (John 4:24) and cannot be captured by form. Form implies nature and essence (John 1:14-18) rather than what is expressed by image (which describes Jesus in 2 Corinthians 4:4and Colossians 1:15), a concrete, visible representation in physical form.Being in the form of God means Jesus was equal with God, yet in order to take on the bond-servant he divested Himself of the privilege of His equality. He made a sacrifice prior to becoming a servant. He made a conscious decision not to invoke executive privilege as God's Son, but rather than allowing His servitude become a staging ground for self-expression and asset a will separate from the expressed will and intent of that He came to perform - the will of God the Father.While the ultimate destiny of His obedience would result in His death on the Cross, His humility was expressed in this: Neither were His Works or Teachings self-expressions but expressions of that which He received from the father (John 5:30; 6:38; 8:28-29; 12:49-50; 14:10).This attitude is beautifully expressed in the Garden at His arrest when He told them to put up their swords and declared, Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way? (Matthew 16:51-54)This same attitude Paul teaches we must posses, the willingness to abandon self - self-wll, self-indulgence, self-expression, self-sufficiency, in submission to our Father's will being fulfilled in us and through us flies in the face of the attitude of Entitlement so often found today in the expression of living like the King's kid, but rather identify ourselves as Servants of God.The impoverished spirt is empty of self-will, self-purpose, self-dependency, self-expression, self-anything. This is the Believer's identity, the witness he or she is a citizen of a Kingdom transcending the nature and understanding of a self-absorbed world seeking to save its own life in in the end will lose it.Poverty of Spirit is a witness not of possessing the Kingdom of Heaven but as Believers we follow the example of our King and through the strength of humility we become witness to a Kingdom that already is, and is to come. Good post |