This passage doesn't sound like a song, but it is. When Paul dictated his letter from prison, I wonder if he and Timothy started to sing this ancient hymn together. Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to rule the world. I'd be benevolent, but I'd still expect the finest foods, opulent vacations, and a trip to space. Whatever our status is, we want to go higher. Whatever room we're in, we want a better seat. Obviously, up is better than down. With that mindset, this hymn sounds like a sad song. Jesus is doing what seems unnatural: emptying himself, humbling himself, even dying on a cross. Our minds recoil at the cost. Who would voluntarily become human, then suffer a humiliating death? If you sing the song for long enough, it turns us around. Once we start to think the way God thinks, we realize that Jesus was not losing his glory but revealing it. We thought God would be too good for this. But he knelt in front of his friends to wash their feet. We want to be in God's position, so we elevate ourselves. But when we look at God, we see him beneath us, hanging on the cross. His descent was the only way he could save us. But it's also who he is.