Great Humility

Verse of the day: Mark 9:35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

The greatest Christians in God's family are those who are most humble. The Lord was our Ultimate Example of humility. Although He was God, He humbly submitted to His Father, and humbled Himself under the authority of man, even unto a cruel death (Phil 2:5-8). The world has a completely different idea about what is great, who is great, and how greatness is achieved. Greatness, in the world, is about exalting self. Its foundation is pride, and the path to it usually means the destruction of someone else's reputation, or life. It is about stepping all over others, and convincing others that we are better than anyone else, and worthy of praise and reward. In order to achieve greatness in the world, it calls for us to make such great sacrifices that it often costs us relationships, and even our own physical and mental health. All this to gain that which has no eternal value, and perishes with the world. Ultimately, when we die, we leave it all behind to those who did nothing to earn it, and will eventually waste it (Luke 12:20-21; 1 Tim 6:7). This is not so with God. The Lord Jesus told His disciples, and it still applies today, that in order to be the greatest, we must be the least. We must be willing to serve others; even as He did when He washed their feet, to include the feet of the one He knew would betray Him, Judas (John 13:11-17). Our attitude as Christians should be that nothing is beyond us in our service to Him; nothing is too lowly for us to perform in His Name. Serving God is about exalting Him, and in order to do that we must be willing to humble ourselves in serving both Him and others. It means that there will be times when someone may even try to take advantage of our kindness (our pride would say, "God forbid", and will keep us from doing what is right, and what we know He would have us do). We need to remember, that a person who does that to us will not get away with it, as God sees all. We must concern ourselves, more so, with what the Lord sees in our hearts when we serve Him, and do for others, for His sake, and the sake of the Gospel (Phil 2:3). The bottom line is that one act of humility, in service to our Lord, can open the door for an opportunity to share Jesus Christ with someone who desperately needs Him. In our humility, He will lift us up (Matt 18:4; James 4:10; 1 Pt 5:6).