In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature 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!
Philippians 2:5-8 

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It was a chaotic morning as we all scrambled to get ready—lunches to pack, backpacks to be filled, work files to be gathered, and the clock was ticking louder with each passing second. The oldest and the youngest hovered around the freezer drawer, digging for ice packs. The youngest shoved aside frozen vegetables while the oldest barked commands, urging the search to go faster. All the while, a large frozen container sat precariously on the edge of the freezer door. Until… Boom! It slammed to the floor with a loud thud, right on my oldest child’s big toe. 

I turned to him and, already knowing the answer, asked. “It got your toe, didn’t it?” Through clenched teeth, he managed to spit out, “Yeah.” 

“I’m so sorry, buddy. That’s the worst.” I paused, knowing that particular kind of pain well. “Give it a rub, and make sure you wiggle it around. That helps.” Does it though? I thought to myself. 

I didn’t need to explain why I understood the pain of something slamming onto your toe. I’d had my fair share of similar accidents. The stinging, throbbing sensation of something heavy dropping just perfectly on one of the smallest parts of your body was unforgettable. It’s a pain that echoes in your body long after the incident. But it’s that shared experience, that very knowing that made my words carry weight. I could say, “I know,” because I actually do. 

And isn’t that what’s so powerful about being human? For better or worse, our pain connects us to one another. It’s the empathy that comes from shared experience. In that moment, I understood my child’s discomfort fully because I’d been there.

And it’s the same way with Jesus. He’s not some ethereal being just looking down on our suffering from a distant, divine perch—He’s lived through it. As both God and human, He knows what it is to feel the sharp sting of pain, the loneliness of loss, the exhaustion of struggle. He’s walked through the mess of this world, fully immersed in the human experience. So when we cry out, He knows—no pain, no joy, no experience is foreign to Him.

It was a little toe, a small incident in the scheme of things, but it reminded me that if I, as a flawed mom, could understand my child’s pain, how much more so does the perfect Savior who “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!”? 

Next Steps

Take some time to slowly read today’s Scripture passage. As you do so, ask yourself, what does Jesus being made in human likeness mean to you? How does that impact your view of yourself and those around you?