This is Part 7 of our ongoing series, “If you, then y’all.”
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature a God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11
Our mindset vs. Christ’s mindset
The mindset we hold impacts everything.
A couple years ago we were blessed to go to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and my wife and I were excited to ride the widely acclaimed 4D ride “Avatar Flight of Passage.” Our son wanted to join, though thrill rides pushed his anxiety.
In my decades of rides, this is among the most immersive, from the moment you enter as you walk through a laboratory and are “scanned” to be matched with a flying “banshee”. You eventually enter a bay to get on your personal banshee, and with 3D glasses in place the ride takes you on one of the most realistic journeys through the world of Avatar, with your flying banshee moving, wind blowing, and water spraying. I loved it.
My son nearly didn’t make it past the line, and in the bay he nearly left the ride entirely. In his mind, it was all too realistic a world that he did not know, and thus did not know what to expect. Would it be scary? Could he get hurt? His mindset worked overtime to protect him from all risks, and he began to lose it.
We knew he would be fine; even more, we knew it could be one of the greatest experiences of his young life. As a 4D ride, he would never be in any physical harm, and we also confirmed the content would not be scary for him. We understood his trepidation, but knew the ride would be one of his favorite moments for years.
We would not be able to convince him of any of this, because his mindset was entrenched; he knew what he knew. Our only recourse was to invite him to trust us, to accept our mindset. He fought it until the final moment, and then – fear still present – said okay and boarded his banshee.
He loved it. Not only did he reminisce about it the entire trip, it utterly transformed his relationship with thrill rides. That one ride took him from fearing roller coasters to wanting to ride even the most intense. Even more, it afforded him new ways to connect with his parents, who were thrilled to not be relegated to only kiddie rides!
We know what we know; we don’t know how limited our knowledge is. It isn’t that our mindsets are totally wrong – my son had legitimate cause for concern – but limited. We all have moments like the ride, where our past experiences shape how we see the present, and we come to learn something new. If we can do this in small ways, how much more so when we are talking about an omniscient, eternal God and his Kingdom!
Our own understanding can be useful, but it will never be able to comprehend God’s ways in will; leaning on it can lead us to miss an incredible reality, like my son’s newfound love of thrill rides. Our default will be to respond as the Disciples when Jesus asked them to feed the people: “We can’t, because of [legitimate reasons].” As my son trusted me, our invitation is to know what we know what we know but choose to trust and submit to the Father nonetheless. As Jesus says in John 5:19, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
