Laying Down One's Life

I've been thinking about the concept of laying down one's life.  What a coup it was when Jesus died on the cross.  Words can't capture the full revelation, but words are all we have.  We need a new language; a new vocabulary. There is so much power in laying down one's life.  Truly then, the enemy has no hold.  What looks like weakness is true strength.

At the point of Jesus' death, I picture the enemy's exultation and celebration. The enemy had just spent time intently watching the unfolding of his plan--step by incremental step--as Jesus became entangled with no hope of escape.  He appeared to be getting more and more paralyzed with each step, and more caught up in an inevitable plot to destroy him.

He was increasingly sapped of life; drained drop by drop.  That life was extinguished slowly and completely.  He seemed exhausted of any alternatives, hemmed in and forced down a path that became narrower and focused toward his ultimate destruction.  At that point, the enemy had him.  His conquest was sure, complete and final.  Just as Satan was foaming at the mouth with satisfaction and exultation, Jesus devastated him.

What is it about voluntary death that is so powerful?  What is it about voluntary and free service?  What is it about laying down self to see others exalted?  I'm wondering why the enemy didn't see the supreme example of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit eternally linked, living to exalt and lift each other up.  Why didn't he get that piece, being that he had been so close to it as Lucifer?

Is it because true humility, even in the Godhead , is so inconspicuous?  Is it because the one being lifted up and exalted is so easily recognized, that all the glory belongs to him, and no recognition goes to the one doing the lifting up?  Are they really that invisible?

The thought occurs to me that, yes, Lucifer could have become caught up in the exaltation of Jesus and, wanting some for himself, was blind to the sacrificial love of the Father and the Holy Spirit.  He didn't see what enabled Jesus to be lifted up.

So it is with us.  Jesus came as one of us, but with an even lower heart.  In Ps. 22:6, which Jesus quoted on the cross, it says, "But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people..."  Jesus calls himself a worm--a maggot.  He came with a heart to get under and lift up.  I'm not really sure that a man can really lift up another man.  They are equals.  One can defer to, but can he really lift up?  Doesn't it mean that he would have to go lower to truly lift up another?  A worm; that would do.  Jesus was demonstrating the concept of considering others greater than self.

How can I appropriate this in my own life?  It seems one dimensional, until I consider other aspects.  Sometimes, in laying down the "self-life", I become visible.  I become exaggerated in the congregation.  I become something all eyes are focused on.  In that case, being "invisible" is not the hard part of humility; being "seen" is.  Being a catalyst and the obviously odd one, not seeming to be in the flow, is the hard part.  Being the breaker, with no rights to the self-life, is the hard part, too.

So, I guess laying down one's life takes humility, either way.  Being invisible is just as hard as being visible, unless the Holy Spirit gives the joy of knowing I am simply endeavoring to follow His leading.  When I lay my life down voluntarily, it is powerful because the anointing comes and meets the sacrifice.  There is a demonstration of the Kingdom of God, whether anyone else notices or not.