Humility

I just can’t seem to get my mind out of Phil 2:5-10 lately.  Maybe it’s because it points to a character trait that is so obviously absent from my life: humility.

Phil 2:5-11 tells us that Jesus existed in the very form of God.  He was God Himself.  Yet He was willing to leave that role as God and come to earth as a man and die on the cross for us.

Think about that for a moment.  The God of the universe, Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, the One who spoke and a universe so large it takes light 15 billion years to travel across it, that incredibly powerful God, came to earth as a servant and washed the feet of men.  Not only that, but He was happy to do so (Heb. 12:1-2).

Now, God tells us to be humble (James 4:10).  The difficult part for us in all this is that the Holy Spirit tells us at the beginning of the Philippians passage that we are to have this same mind, this same attitude of humility that God the Son had in coming to earth as a man, washing the feet of men, and dying on the cross.

This humility, of course, must come from our love for our Lord.  But, are we really willing to humble ourselves?  Are we willing to get our hands dirty, get down in the muck, work with people who offend us, take on tasks we might think are beneath us?  Are we willing to forgive those who have wronged us even if they don’t ask us to and haven’t shown any sign of remorse?  We’re supposed to do just that, you know (Matt 6:14-15).

So, this week, how about we try, you and I, to take a step down from our tower of pride and do a job no one else wants to do that would glorify our Lord.  Maybe it’s something someone would never see, and keep it just between us and God.  Let’s give that a try.  It would be nice to build up a little secret treasure in heaven.  And, God says He’ll bless us for it.  Let’s let this mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus.

 

Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV)
⁵  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
⁶  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
⁷  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
⁸  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
⁹  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰  so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV)
¹  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
²  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

James 4:10 (ESV)
¹⁰  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Matthew 6:14-15 (ESV)
¹⁴  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
¹⁵  but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.