Humility

Let’s face it, being humble or having humility provides others the opportunity to get one up on us, embarrass us, belittle us, degrade us, and so much more. We live in a fallen world, and even though we have been redeemed as believers, the flesh is so strong. It wants its way, to not let anyone get the upper hand on us. Humility is looked at as weakness from the world’s viewpoint. But as we know, God’s kingdom is an upside down kingdom.

Let’s look at Jesus for a moment.  The Luke verse shows that at the first moment of his human life, there was no guest room for him and they laid him I guess on straw in a manger. The king of kings and lord of lords was out back in a horse stable at his birth.

He was a carpenter’s son, not of any royalty. He humbled himself and asked John the Baptist to baptize him, was led by the Spirit for 40 days of hunger to be tempted and be victorious over Satan. He then went throughout the villages where he had no home, no source of income, no closet full of clothes. He entered Jerusalem as had been prophesied in Zechariah 9.9 on a colt, not a royal steed. He was tried and attacked and was essentially humiliated. I think that’s what most of us are so afraid of, being humiliated, if we show humility.

Grace to the humble

At the last supper with his disciples, he washed their dirty feet. Later, he then spent the night in prayer struggling as a human about what was to happen to him the next day. But he humbled himself as he had always done before the Father and yielded to the humiliation of a crucifixion. (Phil. 2.5-11)

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4.6b Jesus understood that, so why don’t we? I’ll let you struggle with that on your own. I’ll do the same. Happy Advent!