A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book, Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series) (p. 36). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)
And that has made all the difference for us all.
Charles says, "However, when God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ, He did not cease to be God, nor did He lose His divine attributes, such as omnipresence and omnipotence. He merely laid them aside for a time. Theologians call this choice kenosis, which derives from a Greek term meaning 'to empty.' Perhaps the best way to illustrate the concept is to tell the story of Thomas Mott Osborne."
Charles tells his story, "In October 1914, Osborne entered Auburn Prison in upstate New York, and like all the other prisoners, he was photographed, fingerprinted, stripped of his possessions, issued a set of prison grays, and led to a cell, four feet wide by seven and a half feet long and seven and a half feet tall. The only difference between prisoner 33,333x and the other 1,329 inmates was the issue of freedom. On his command, he could leave the prison anytime he desired.
"After his appointment to Governor Sulzer’s State Commission on Prison Reform, Osborne made it his mission to live as one of the inmates, study their experience, and emerge as their advocate. He voluntarily laid aside his freedom to experience life behind bars. He slept in a dank, drafty cell just like theirs. He ate their food and labored as they did. He even endured their most dreaded punishment, a night in “the box.” While he could order his own release at any time, he was nevertheless confined. He wrote, 'I am a prisoner, locked, double locked. By no human possibility, by no act of my own, can I throw open the iron grating which shuts me from the world into this small stone vault. I am a voluntary prisoner, it is true; nevertheless even a voluntary prisoner can’t unlock the door of his cell.' (1)"
Charles then says, "Just as Osborne was at once free yet confined to prison, Jesus was omnipotent yet helpless as an infant, dependent upon His mother’s milk for survival. He set aside His rightful entitlements of deity to become the least privileged of people—born among the poorest of the poor. This humble entrance into the world would characterize the rest of His days on earth and illustrate the difference between His kingdom and the world’s idea of power, authority, riches, and privilege."
And He did that for us to make a difference for us. Will you accept the reality of this, of what He did? Will you? Yes, yes! #continuethought
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