Humility

Tomorrow morning I get pleasure of speaking during the half-time devotions for Crosspoint Church's Upward Soccer League. The kids are learning about humility. I have struggled with humility in my own life. Being full of pride compensated for me dying of shame in the inside. Fortunately God has brought people into my life to love me through my arrogance and help me understand my story. Intellectually I knew that pride was not good, and often heard people in the church quote Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” What I realize now is that this was often in conjunction with gossip that was spoken about the “prideful” person. What I never heard was the next verse Proverbs 16:19, “It is better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly.” This is probably because gossip is a form of pride. I’m better than this person, or can you believe this person did X, Y, and Z? In a sense the gossiper is saying that the one being gossiped about has sin worse than the sin of those doing the gossiping. But I digress… The kids are learning about humility from Philippians chapter 2. As I prepare, I find myself completely immersed in the study of the subject. Unfortunately, I only have about 6 minutes for half-time, so I have to stay focused and remind myself I am not teaching or preaching a series of messages. I need to get the point across in a concise manner. People who know me understand I love quotes. Here are 2 of my favorite quotes on humility: 1. “Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all.” William Temple 2. “Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less.” C.S. Lewis In Philippians 2:9-11, points out 3 things about Jesus that model the essence of true humility. 1. Jesus took the form of a servant. He didn’t live life in his divinity. Want to know if you are humble? How do you respond when you’re treated like a servant? Do you choose to be a servant? A servant can be unnoticed, overlooked and taken for granted. Our society says that this is a sign of weakness. We should be assertive, never be passive and never appear to be someone’s doormat. This is different from what the Bible teaches of humility. It is because of our identity in Christ that we can serve others here on Earth without need of recognition. We serve a God who sees and promises to reward us after our life here is done. 2. We see Jesus demonstrated his humility through obedience to the Father. Jesus did not impose his own will on God, but submitted and trusted God’s plan. Although not easy in our humanity, we can do this because his Word says he a plan for us. God’s plans for us are to, “prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future” (Jer. 29:11). 3. Third, we learn the need to patiently wait for God’s timing. Jesus didn’t exalt himself; he waited for God to do it. Jesus, fully divine and flawlessly human at the same time, lived his life humbly as a servant. When it was time for him to die, his humanity cried out for another way, he submitted to his Father’s will. Jesus the perfect representation of humility. As followers of Christ, we should have the same attitude as Jesus. This my friends is something I will continue to struggle with and work toward the rest of my days on Earth. While I struggle in my own humanity, I strive to live with the attitude of Christ.