As followers of Jesus, we live in a community of faith, learning to walk with each other in the ways of the Lord.
Humility is then a quality we all ought to learn as we follow and mature in Christ. Jesus provides us with an example of humility through Apostle Paul’s writings in Philippians 2:5-11 (NKJV):
The Humbled and Exalted Christ
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
I’d like you to consider what humility means by considering how low Jesus went to humble himself. Scripture says Jesus is in the form of God and is equal with God.
Jesus is all powerful, has infinite knowledge, and is the ruler of all. BUT He came in the likeness of men, as a bondservant (that is a slave). He obeyed the Lord even to the point of death, even when he knows he is in no wrong at all.
He suffered not just death, but the most humiliating death of the Roman Times. All these he did to obey what the Father asked him to do, without selfish ambition.
What is humility?
Humility is obedience to the Lord.
I’m not sure what you see when you read the above scriptures, but I see in my mind’s eye how Jesus bowed down low on His knees as He submitted to His father’s will in the garden of Gethsemane. Before He died physically, He crucified and first died to His own will and right. It is a picture of how humility looks like.
I have been on a journey of healing from a tumultuous childhood without Christ and have come to a place where I am a lot more stable in my identity and worth in Him. However, old ways of relating and reacting still threatens to rear its ugly heads – hidden hooks of insecurities like unbelief, doubt, fear, hurt and disappointment were still lodged deep within my heart. I don’t often see it, but once the Lord exposes it, I cannot unsee them. To do so is to pride; Pride leads to deception, and deception distorts truth. Truth is what God sees, not what I claim to be.
Like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, I’m grappling with a few questions of surrender:
- Am I willing to die to my rights to comfort? e.g. having stable income, shelter, choice
- Am I willing to die to my reputation? e.g. Jesus died the death of the cross, naked and humiliated. Isaiah walked around the city naked and barefoot to proclaim His word. If God asks me to do things that defy human logic, will I be able to put down my ‘face’ for Him?
- Am I willing to pay any price for the revival we long for, even if I don’t live to witness it?
Humility is knowing exactly who we serve
The Greek word that was translated as humility in Philippians 2 is this word tapeinophrosune (ταπεινοφροσύνη, ης, ἡ) and it means
- To have a humble opinion of oneself
- To have a deep sense of moral littleness
This is in comparison with God, who is of a different form than us. He is the one who not only created us, He exists even before anything we see is created. His glory is beyond the most brilliant scenery we see on this earth. We pale much in comparison when we put this into perspective.
Because of sin, the Lord said through Jeremiah in Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NKJV) that:
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve
It is only the Holy Spirit who can understand the deep things of our souls and spirit. We need to honor and place value in Him, highly regard what He exposes within us as right and true. As we continue to pursue Him as Lord in our lives and learn to hear Him rightly, there will be stuff from the past that no longer serves us. Will we let go of them and allow our hearts to be cleansed with the hyssop of Jesus’ cleansing blood?
In the following verses after we saw how Jesus humbled himself, Paul exhorted the Philippians Church to shine as lights in a perverse and immoral generation. When you watch or read the news today, you will know the world is getting darker and it is time for us to rise up in our positions as children of God and as light-bearers. It cannot be done with church programs; it can only be done when hearts are cleansed as vessels for His glory (2 Timothy 2:19-21, Romans 9:21).
Let us learn to constantly allow God to check our heart posture. When we repent of our wicked ways and seek His will, He will give light, illumination and direction. In God’s kingdom, He gives grace to the humble and those who are meek will inherit the earth.