Humbled, the past tense of humble is defined  as “lowering in self-respect,  or a lessening of  power”.

What could be more humbling than being a slave?

A slave is the property of another,  forced to obey that person, and without  rights of his own.

Paul proudly proclaimed that he was a slave  to our Lord Jesus Christ,   and encourages” "believers” to  accept that role as well.

It may be hard to visualize being  both a slave to Him  and a part of His body.

But I believe he means that while here on earth, we should consider  ourselves a slave in our attitude to our Lord. 

Now imagine this.  You are the most powerful  presence in the universe, save one.  You are the son of  God the father of all,  the only omnipitent  one. God, a spiritual presence  is represented in form by you.

You agree to empty yourself, and return to earth,  and are born of woman, through  the conjoing  of the Spirit of God.

You experience  growth and every day life of the times, as a normal man of limited means would back in the early years of the comon  era. 

But, you are not an ordinary man..for you  are filled with Spirit of God..the Great Comforter and incapable of sin, a powerful self-contained  presence available to you when needed. 

Yet you knowingly accept the role of a slave.

After “emptying” yourself and becoming a mere man,  you  humble  yourself  and become a slave to  God the Father. 

Your primary mission for being on earth,  as a slave,  is to sacrifice yourself so that All will be saved.

Thousands of years earlier,  I believe it was God’s intent to accomplish the" saving of all" by having  Abraham sacrifice his son, Isaac, who was a near-perfect man.

But God changed His mind, when he saw how  deeply it affected His servant,  Abraham  , and  I believe  He realized that only  an unblemished “lamb’s” sacrifice, one incapable of sin, should  bring about  the"saving of All".

Sacrifices, both of humans and animals  were being made to bring about  favor from the gods by the pagans,  in order to improve weather,  increase  bounty, or  protection from enemies and elements.

The jews made their  animal sacrifices at such times as it was designated by Law  to honor the one God.

One sacrifice entailed forgiving their sins for the year.

God intends  that you, an unblemished “lamb”..His slave will sacrifices yourself, and that All will  be saved and sins will be justified, not forgiven, for the eons.

When the knowledge of what  Jesus was  to do,  is anybody’s guess, but I would  imagine the loving Father  waited  for this to become known until  Jesus reached maturity, and maybe about the time His ministry (good works)  began in Nazareth.

In the gardens  of Gethsemane, you  humble yourself and plead with the Father to be released from this terrible ordeal . You could call on the Great Comforter for help,  but you don’t because your Father expects you to undertake this task alone.

Finally,  as an obedient slave, you acquiesce to your master’s wish and ascend the “cross”..paulnbob