Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Philippians 2:5-8
In 2011, the Center for Retail Research in England released a study analyzing theft in more than 250,000 grocery and food stores across forty-three countries. Surprisingly, one of the most commonly stolen items was cheese. Dr. Joshua Bamfield, director of the center, explained that cheese had become “a lucrative target for small-time criminals,” often stolen not for personal use but for resale in other markets and even restaurants. The study estimated that about 4 percent of all cheese placed on store shelves was stolen rather than purchased.
People do not steal things they think are worthless. No one covets or grasps at something that has no value. Yet Jesus Christ who did have Divine right to all the praise and glory and worship of Heaven and Earth did not treat that as something of value to which He had to cling. Instead, He willingly laid all of that aside to come and be the sacrifice for our sins.
Before the world was created, the cross was already part of God’s plan. It is the measure of His immense love for us that Jesus, in the words of Charles Wesley, “emptied Himself of all but love” and died in our place. “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10).
