In Your Relationships with One Another

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. (Philippians 2:5)

Shout out; do not hold back!

Lift up your voice like a trumpet!

Announce to my people their rebellion,

to the house of Jacob their sins.

Yet day after day they seek me

and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness

and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments;

they want God on their side.

“Why do we fast, but you do not see?

Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day

and oppress all your workers.

You fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to strike with a wicked fist.

Such fasting as you do today

will not make your voice heard on high.

Is such the fast that I choose,

a day to humble oneself?

Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush

and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?

Will you call this a fast,

a day acceptable to the LORD?

Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of injustice,

to undo the straps of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover them

and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up quickly;

your vindicator shall go before you;

the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;

you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.” (Isaiah 58:1–9a NRSV)

As I write this, the world feels unbearably heavy. We are only days removed from another killing in Minneapolis involving immigration enforcement. A decade of unrest continues in our beloved Cameroon. Ukraine and Russia remain locked in violence. And my brothers and sisters in Canada feel the strain of an America whose rhetoric increasingly threatens their sense of freedom. This is only a fraction of the conflict and suffering unfolding across our beautiful world.

I want to be clear: I have no great wisdom to offer on these complex realities. I don’t pretend to have prophetic clarity or tidy solutions. But this much I do know—having the mindset of Christ Jesus in my relationships, as the NIV translation of Philippians 2:5 puts it, feels especially challenging right now.

If I’m honest, when I was reading the verse, my instinct was to rush ahead. “Tell me how, Paul. Give me the steps. Show me what to do.” But instead, I sensed the Spirit gently whisper, “Stay here.”

Stay with the question.

What would the mindset of Christ actually look like in your relationships?

That question has been quietly unsettling me.

I think of how I’ve spoken—sometimes dismissively—about a friend who sees immigration very differently than I do.

I notice my indignation toward those who seem unmoved by the suffering of our Cameroonian sisters and brothers.

I feel the weight of the American arrogance I know I’ve carried into conversations with Canadian friends.

I could list more. But even this small exercise reminds me that instruction from God’s Word only bears fruit when my heart is softened enough to receive it.

One of today’s lectionary readings comes from Isaiah 58, where God confronts a people who are very busy with religious activity but resistant to inner transformation:

“You fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to strike with a wicked fist. [. . .]

Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of injustice,

to undo the straps of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?”

The questions keep coming—not as condemnation, but as a gracious invitation. God’s corrective whisper calls me beyond confession alone and into submission: a willingness to be set on a new course, one that more faithfully walks the narrow way of our Savior.

Philippians 2 will eventually lead us to the stunning humility of Christ—his self-emptying, his obedience, his cross. But verse 5 stops us first and asks whether we are willing to think like him before we try to act for him.

As we continue this Lenten journey and prepare our hearts for the feast of our resurrected King, it is wise—for me, especially—to pause and ask:

Is my mindset truly that of Christ Jesus?

Are my religious practices, fasting included, forming humility within me?

Are they loosening the bonds of injustice and breaking yokes of oppression?

May the peaceful, self-giving way of Christ transform us all.
 
 
Stu Streeter is the VP of Church Multiplication and Ministry Advancement.