Letters From Grandpa #593

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 593

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will be about a verse which is both simple and profound - “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5 kjv) This Scripture reveals the very essence of conversion! Conversion involves opening the door to your heart and inviting Christ in (Revelation 3:20). Christ in you is the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Jesus promised that both He and the Father would make their home inside of all believers (John 14:23). Charles Sheldon wrote a book about having the mind of Christ in 1896. He called it In His Steps! This book has sold more than 50 million copies. This book gave rise to the slogan “What Would Jesus Do?”. This slogan was reduced to the letters WWJD which have been written on bracelets worn by as many as 50 million people.

On the night before Jesus was crucified a dispute arose among His disciples as to which was the greatest. “Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22:24-27) Jesus demonstrated the way He thought by assuming the duties of a servant and washing His disciples feet. Jesus did this because of what he “knew”! “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” (John 13:3-5)

Everyone knew that their feet were dirty! Everyone could see the basin and the towel. Nobody but Jesus, however, did anything about it! The Twelve obviously thought “somebody else” was responsible for washing feet. Someone once observed that “Somebody Else” was the most important person in the church for he was responsible for everything that “nobody else” wanted to do!

Please consider this poem by Edgar A. Guest called The Wrecker:

I watched them tearing a building down,

A gang of men in a busy town. With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell, They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.

I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,

As the men you’d hire if you had to build?”

He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed!

Just common labor is all I need.”

“I can easily wreck in a day or two What builders have taken a year to do.” And I thought to myself as I went my way, Which of these two roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder who works with care,

Measuring life by the rule and square?

Or am I a wrecker who walks the town, Content with the labor of tearing down?

Jesus was not a wrecker! He went about doing good and healing all that were under the power of the Devil (Acts 10:38). Jesus set an example for us that we should follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21). Jesus did not run away from problems, He went to them! When Jesus was criticized for eating with tax collectors and sinners He said: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13)

The difference between “mercy” and “sacrifice” is dramatic. The focus of “sacrifice” is “inward” for our own personal forgiveness. The focus of “mercy” is “outward” focusing on the needs of others! In the parable of the Good Samaritan, for example, the priest and the Levite avoided the man in need because they were thinking about themselves. The Good Samaritan did not focus on himself, but showed “mercy” on the man who had fallen among thieves. Jesus said “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:25-27)

Paul said it beautifully: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Please “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce