DAILY BREAD READING (Published Daily by Our Daily Bread Ministries)
APRIL 25, 2026
READ: Philippians 2 (Focus vs. 3-8)
MEMORY VERSE
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5
BACKGROUND
As I visited a patient in the hospital, I was struck by the actions of a young doctor standing with a team of other inexperienced physicians. The group listened as a more seasoned doctor explained about the patient’s health.
Suddenly, the patient anxiously announced that she needed to use the bathroom and couldn’t get up. In fact, she couldn’t wait for a nurse’s aide to be summoned to the room.
Amid the frantic scene, the young doctor got a bed pan off the shelf and assisted the patient. When the nurse’s aide arrived, she was shocked to find someone had already assisted the patient. The lead physician proudly acknowledged the assistance of the young doctor.
Jesus didn’t cling to His divinity and refuse to assist humanity. Though He was “in very nature God, [He] did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage” (Philippians 2:6).
As a human, Christ was able to become our sin offering and sacrifice Himself for us. He saw our need for help and salvation, and He humbly laid down His life (v. 8). Paul wrote, “He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant” (v. 7).
We’re called to imitate Jesus’ attitude and sacrificial ways in our relationships with others. As He helps us, let’s humbly serve them no matter how lowly the job may seem.
Katara Patton
INSIGHT
There’s been some debate about the meaning of Philippians 2:7: “[Jesus] emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (esv). The word translated “emptied” comes from the Greek word kenoō, resulting in what is known as the kenosis theory.
If Christ “emptied himself” (or “made himself nothing” niv), of what did He empty Himself?
Some suggest He emptied Himself of His deity or His divine attributes, but then His sacrifice on the cross would’ve been insufficient. Colossians 2:9 says, “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”
Rather, He emptied Himself of the right to choose how to live and how to make use of His divine attributes—making Himself utterly subject to the Father’s will and “taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:7) Today, we can imitate Jesus’ attitude of humility and sacrifice as we serve others.
Bill Crowder
APPLICATION
How can you reflect the attitude and ways of Jesus? What will it look like for you to humbly serve someone today?
PR’s (Pastor Richard) RE-EMPHASIS (From Today’s Post)
We’re called to imitate Jesus’ attitude and sacrificial ways in our relationships with others.
PR’s TAKE
“I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus – This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus.” Mother Theresa
“In service, the worshiper, the worship and the Worshipped are aligned pr Adapted – Swami Vivekanada
““That” service (not noticed or done with expectation of reward) is the noblest for its own sake.” Mahatma Ghandi
PRAYER
Thank You, Jesus, for humbly giving Yourself for my sin. Please show me how to sacrificially serve others.
TODAY’S HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“OTHERS”
Lord, let me live from day to day,
In such a self-forgetful way,
That even when I kneel to pray,
My pray’r shall be for OTHERS.
Yes, others, Lord, yes, others,
Let this my motto be;
Help me to live for others,
Help me to live for others,
That I may live like Thee,
That I may live like Thee.
Help me in all the work I do
To ever be sincere and true,
And know that all I’d do for you
Must needs be done for OTHERS
Yes, others, Lord, yes, others,
Let this my motto be;
Help me to live for others,
Help me to live for others…
Let “Self” be crucified and slain
And buried deep, nor rise again
And may all efforts be in vain,
Unless they be for OTHERS.
Yes, others, Lord, yes, others,
Let this my motto be;
Help me to live for others,
Help me to live for others…
So when my work on earth is done,
And my new work in heav’n’s begun,
May I forget the crown I’ve won,
While thinking still of OTHERS.
Yes, others, Lord, yes, others,
Let this my motto be;
Help me to live for others,
Help me to live for others,
That I may live like Thee,
That I may live like Thee.
