Tendering Out

“He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing.”  (Philippians 2:6, 7) 

Okay - this is the last vacation story, I promise.  At one particular stop along our cruise we glided into a small harbor; a town on one side and a beach on the other.  Our ship dwarfed the harbor and it was so big there was no dock to tie up to.  So the ship anchored in the middle of the harbor.

Then the life boats were lowered and we descended into these small boats carrying 80-100 people each.  On the big boat we had room to move, restaurants or we could sit by the pool and read a book.  But here, in this cramped boat that smelled like diesel fuel and sweat intermingled it was not very nice.  The waves were big and it rocked back and forth and the spray of the water sometimes hit the boat.  In the big cruise liner, you hardly felt the waves far beneath you.  It was sure a humbling experience but a necessary one, for it was the only way to get to shore.

God is exalted on high.  He is the Holy One of Glory.  If He appeared suddenly in all His glory the earth would be destroyed.  So He devised an eternal plan; He would stoop to become one of us; hiding His glory in the flesh of a man, enduring the pain of life and the pain of death.  He made himself nothing.  It was the only way to get to us in our sinful condition.  He tendered out his only Son who was God Himself in the flesh and arrived at our shores to bless us with His presence and give us the gift of eternal life.