Humility
Humility is not self deprecation. In the true sense of the word, humility is really self-appreciation; but not just in the human way that we appreciate. It’s seeing ourselves as God see’s us. Who are we in the light of the ascension of Christ? We are reflections of Gods Spirit into the world.
We are the light of Jesus into the darkness through the
power of the Holy Spirit.
Unfortunately, since the deception of the serpent in the Garden of Eden we tend to default to a lie. What is the lie? That we can be like God.
When we allow that lie to reign true in our life,
we push God off His thrown and try to take His place.
He is God…we are not.
So there is this fine balance between thinking
too much of ourselves, and dismissing the power within us.
Paul said it so well when he said “Don’t think more highly of yourself then
you ought to think, but think with sober judgment.”-Romans 12:3
Through the blood of Christ and His ascension to
the right hand of the Father we are exalted, yet still very human. In this
understanding is a battle that wages within all of us. Pride.
How do we navigate this battle? Philippians
2:8-9 says:
And
being found in appearance as a man,
he
humbled himself
by
becoming 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,
We can easily miss the connection here in this scripture.
Jesus
“humbled himself”.
Through
His humbling God exalted him to the highest place.
What
the bible says about the ascension of Christ tells us a great deal about the
power of humility.
Ephesians
4:9-10 says “What does “he ascended” mean
except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended
is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the
whole universe.”
Paul
is saying that these two understandings are bound together. Glorification and
humiliation.
That
we live a humiliated life in order to live into the Holiness we’ve been given
through the power of the Holy Spirit? No
It
means we need to search our souls for pride.
How
do we exalt ourselves in this life?
Where
are we putting ourselves above others?
Do
we live to fulfill our own needs, or are we seeking to see the needs of others
around us?
Are
we only willing to fill the needs of others that have no effect on us, or are
we willing to fill the needs of others that cause us to sacrifice our own?
Those
are some deep soul searching questions.
Christ
himself sets the pattern of the way we are to live and the perspective that we
live by.
John
the Baptist understood this dichotomy all too well when he said:
“He must become
greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”-John 3:30
There’s
power in humility because it helps us to clear our vision in order to move past
what we say of ourselves and focus on what God says of us.
Who
does God say we are?
1. A new creation in Christ
“Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see,
the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17)
2.
A child of God
“But
to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to
those who believe in his name” (John 1:12).
3.
A branch of the true vine
“I
am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him
produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me” (John 15:5).
4.
A friend of Jesus
“I
do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his
master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you
everything I have heard from my Father” (John 15:15).
5.
Justified and redeemed
6.
An heir
“We
are God’s children, and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with
Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him”
(Rom. 8:17).
7.
A sanctified saint
“To
the church of God at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called as
saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our
Lord—both their Lord and ours” (1 Cor. 1:2).
8.
A temple of the Holy Spirit
“Don’t
you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you
have from God? You are not your own” (1 Cor. 6:19)
9.
A member of Christ’s body
“Now
you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it” (1 Cor. 12:27).
10.
An ambassador for Christ
“Therefore,
we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We
plead on Christ’s behalf: ‘Be reconciled to God’” (2 Cor. 5:20)
11.
The righteousness of God
“He
made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21)
12. Chosen
“For
he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and
blameless in love before him” (Eph. 1:4)
13.
Adopted
“He
predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will” (Eph. 1:5)
14.
Redeemed and forgiven
“In
him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7).
15.
Sealed with the Holy Spirit
“In
him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed”
(Eph. 1:13).
16.
Made alive in Christ
But
God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made
us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by
grace! (Eph. 2:4-5)
17.
Raised and seated with Him in the
heavenly places
“He
also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ
Jesus” (Eph. 2:6).
18.
God’s workmanship
“For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared ahead of time for us to do” (Eph. 2:10)
“But
our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the
Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).
20.
No longer a slave, but free
“For freedom, Christ
set us free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal.
5:1).
You are His.
-Pastor Patti
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