[Steve Myers] Philippians chapter 2 talks about Jesus Christ, and it says in verse 7, "He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:7). It's interesting because this word for "no reputation" – some translations will say, "He emptied Himself". And that is the word, in Greek, from the base word kenosis. Kenosis means to empty, or to void, or to become empty. So as you think about this, Christ emptied Himself of His glory and He became a man. He became Immanuel, God with us.

Now, one of the things that I began to think about when I thought about this concept of kenosis and Christ emptying Himself – what is it that I need to empty myself of? What character traits do I have – maybe unseen traits – that I need to remove from my life? They need to be empty, they need to be gone. I think I can come up with a list of things, and perhaps you can, too.And yet, Christ emptied himself of His glory, became a human being, is also a reminder for us – it's not good enough just to empty yourself of wrong ways, of wrong character traits. There's something more to it.

In fact, there's another word that goes along with this, and it's the word pleurosis. You've probably heard of pleurisy. Pleurisy is a disease of the lungs, the lining of the lungs, where oftentimes they'll fill up with fluids – it's filling up with fluid, or infection, because of the disease that's there. And in fact, when you look at this concept of filling up and emptying – we've got to empty ourselves of the things that are un-Christ like, and we've got to fill ourselves with something else. In fact, in Colossians 1:9, we can see this pretty clearly, what it tells us to fill ourselves with. It says, "For this reason also, since the day we heard it, we don't cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding."

So we understand we've got to be filled. Maybe do a study. Do a study on what the Bible says are those godly characteristics that we all must be filled with. Because there is no doubt, like Christ, we must empty ourselves, and yet be on the mission to fill ourselves with those good and godly things.

That's BT Daily. Well see you next time.