ON HUMILITY

just my thoughts from this morning...

humility comes to those who put their trust in God. when we are confident in our identity as God's children, we don't have to strive to prove ourselves or try to protect our pride. when we feel secure in God, we can obey Him freely. Richard Foster says that obedience is the key to humility, but i think it goes beyond that. faith is the key to humility. most interpretations of Philippians 2 (see below) are that Jesus came to earth as a human and was obedient to death on a cross despite being God. but i tend to agree with John Ortberg who said that Jesus came down and was obedient not despite being God, but because He is God. the nature of God is humility. it was because Jesus knew God's nature, His faithfulness, His sovereignty, His love... that He had the freedom to obey the Father and live a selfless life. looking at it this way, Philippians 2 becomes a passage that is not about the heroism of Christ - it is a message of hope for us that we too can attain an attitude that is "the same as that of Christ Jesus."

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death--
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
~Philippians 2:5-11~