Humility, From Mom

Humility.  What comes to mind at the mention of that word.  People taking advantage of us?  Using us?  Being treated unfairly?  Being a doormat?  But yet the most humble person to ever live was Jesus Christ, and outside of being treated unfairly, I don't see any of those other statements being true of His life.  Let's see what Mom has in the journal for us to discover.

Matthew 18:4  So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Humble - to make low, lower oneself, devoid of self, willingly submit to God and His will.

The greatest virtue is humility.  Humility says, "I am a sinner, I need to be saved."

Proverbs 22:4    Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life. 
Humility is the beginning of wisdom.

Childlikeness.  Matthew 18:1-4  And about that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?"  Jesus called a little child to Him and put the child among them.  Then He said, "I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.  So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.  

God calls us to be childlike in humility and have a servant's heart.  John 13:1-17 establishes the spirit and style by which the authority of the believer is to be expressed as an agent in God's kingdom.

Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.

6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”  8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”  Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”  9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”

10 Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. 17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

From me:

I've heard it said that humility and meekness are strength under control.  I kind of think of it as preferring others over ourselves.  If we are strong in the Lord, knowing who we are in Him then being a servant, not needing to have our own way or be right all the time, giving of ourselves so that others may be blessed, even above our own needs or wants, not concerned about the world's opinion, then pride will not get in the way of our witness for Jesus.  When we look at the life of Jesus we don't see someone who lived for themselves.  I never saw Him say, "I did enough for these people today, I deserve a break."   He didn't tell the disciples to wash His feet, but instead showed caring for others was more important than being served.  And when it came time to save us, He willingly allowed Himself to be horribly abused and murdered so that we might live. 

This isn't about not setting boundaries in our lives.  There are times when we are doing people no good by allowing bad behavior to continue.  Jesus often told people He would not go along with them.  Our first and foremost submission in humility is to the Father.  We come to Him childlike, needy, open, and in trust.  After that He leads us in the way of humility.  Serving others becomes serving Him. 

Lord, I struggle in this.  No one likes to feel taken advantage of.  But if doing for others, even the things they should do, even when things are "not my job," shares Your love and shines Your light, I want to be doing it,  Help me to get over my pride, over my "me first, I'm right, I need," attitude and follow the footsteps of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Forgive me, I fall so short, allow pride to rule my heart.  Lord help!  I am lost in this without You. 

Examine your heart today.  Ask God to help you root out pride and learn to walk in humility.