01/09/2018
How do you recognize a person who has given themselves completely over to God’s will? What one trait do you see in such saints? If you mull this over in your mind, you will come to one conclusion, and one conclusion only... humility. To become a servant you must first humble yourself, to obey God without reservation you must humble yourself, and to become a child of Our Heavenly Father, you must humble yourself before Him. Are you able to place God before yourself? Are you capable of embodying the absolute humility of Christ?
“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”Philippians 2:8 ESV
As I read on the subject of humility I came across a wonderful quote by Andrew Murray. He had come to the realization that without humbling ourselves and giving our own desires and needs over to God, that we could go no further in faith than simple belief.
“Humility is the blossom of which death to self is the perfect fruit. Jesus humbled himself unto death and opened the path in which we too must walk. Humility must lead us to die to self” - Andrew Murray
Pride is the antithesis of humility, and as humans we have received a full share of this characteristic. It is so pervasive in us that in order to defeat it we must bring ourselves to the point of death. We must be ready to lay down our lives, and place our love for God, our friends, and our neighbors before our own self. Jesus demonstrated this on the cross, and He spoke of it before He even reached Calvary...
“"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”John 15:12-13 ESV
Humility allows us to love. The essence and absolute nature of love is a humble heart. How can we love one another and still place ourselves before them? If you say you love someone, but are only interested in how you feel, or what you receive from the relationship then that is not love. Loving, and being in love is the total abandonment of one’s self to another... it is stripping away our pride and exposing ourselves and all of our vulnerabilities to another person, or to God. It is humbling ourselves to the point of death.
One of the greatest love stories that man has ever written is Romeo and Juliet. In Shakespeare’s play he reveals the nature and intensity of human love, he uses two young lovers to unmask the burning heart of love that leads us not only to the point of death, but into death itself. I am not proposing that we should commit suicide when our heart is broken, but use this simply as an example of love, and as a means of demonstrating the abandonment of self to another.
God gave His only begotten Son to die for us. This was an unparalleled act of love on the part of both God, and His Son. Jesus laid His life down in obedience to His Father, and for this to have happened He had to humble himself to His Father’s will. However, God had to humble Himself to His own nature in order to love us enough to pay such a price for our forgiveness. Love... at it’s very heart is the humility of God, and is the greatest gift given man. Love, is like an egg that when broken reveals the yolk of humility inside. Without the yolk, the egg is useless, and without the entirety of the egg surrounding it, then what good does the yolk alone serve.
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,”Ephesians 4:1-2 ESV
Are we humble? Is our humility so pronounced that it is revealed in an absolute love of God? When those around us see our humility do they say... “This is a child of God.”
Prayer:
Father, thank you for giving me the humility that not only makes love possible, but that defeats my prideful nature. Thank you Lord for sending your Son Jesus Christ to not only demonstrate humility to us, but to reveal the humble nature of you as well. Holy Father, we place ourselves prostate before you, and present ourselves humbly at your feet. How else can our love for you be complete than to do your will without question, and without regard to our own selves. Let the humble yolk of our love for you bring life into our relationship Father. Teach me Merciful Father; teach me that by my nature of humility I present myself in perfect love to you. Hear my praise offered up, feel my sorrow and heartbreak in the face of sin, smell the sweet aroma of my prayer as it carries my penitence before you. You are my God, you are my Lord, and before you I humble myself in love. Holy, Holy, Holy art thou.
Rich Forbes