Humble Ourselves

“At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow.” Philippians 2:10 (KJV)

The adversary provides a counterfeit for just about everyone or everything that's good and whole...he can counterfeit faith, counterfeit love, and even counterfeit hope. According to one writer, "There is one fruit of a Christian that is difficult to counterfeit for too long - and that is the fruit of humility."

 Don’t you love to around someone who’s humble? Self-effacing? Not trying to steal our joy or lift themselves up too greatly? One who doesn't put us down to lift their spirit up?

This morning I took a few quiet moments to enjoy the glistening snow-tipped pine boughs in our back yard. One could not help but notice how pure and wholesome the Earth looked. I saw the sun's golden rays streaming through the trees; squirrels were darting along the ice covered limbs; the far off conversation between a dog and his master in the distance could be heard. Yelps of happiness from both carried through the cold air. As I feasted my eyes to see the glorious creation of His hand, my thoughts turned to Jesus and the Apostle Paul.  

My thoughts brought to the forefront how the Apostle Paul so poignantly and humbly stated in I Timothy, chapter 1, that he was “chief among sinners.” What humility!
What an example! Oh, if we could only actively practice humility in our own lives!

We often experience a nation of “Me, myself, and I,” don’t we? I truly believe that we, our homes, churches, work places, dinner tables, and conversations could benefit from a good dose of humility. Let’s check ourselves. Is it our four and no more? Is it me first? Do we mistake kindness and humility for weakness? Do we find ourselves secretly brown nosing the boss? I imagine that our human nature could much more quickly point out someone else’s brown nosing before we acknowledge our own shortcomings, right? The truth as I see it, is that most arrogant people don’t apply humility to themselves. Their expectation is on the other person.  Rarely would an arrogant or selfish person also be humble. So, humility may take practice!

There’s a saying in the East among Arabs – “As the tares and the wheat grow, they show which God has blessed.”  The article I found on it said, "The ears that God has blessed bow their heads and acknowledge every grain, and the more fruitful they are, the lower their heads are bowed. The tares which God has sent as a curse lift up their heads, high above the wheat, but they are productive of arrogance."

Allow me to give another example, more simply illustrated. My mother-in-law has a crest of land below the Sauratown Mountains in North Carolina. On it, she has some of the most beautiful Crepe Myrtle trees you could ever see. Rich, bold magenta in color, and some filled with blossoms the size of mason jars. Every branch on some of the trees seems to be reaching upward, waving their splendid blossoms, almost like badges of honor. Last year, some of her trees were so full of blooms, that many branches almost touched the ground. Yet, a few trees remained mostly green; still pretty, but less fruitful.

If we could get down low enough, my friends, God will use every one of us for His glory.

Let's look UP!