"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8, ESV, italics added).
"For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite" (Isaiah 57:15, ESV, lowly means humble!).
"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug" (Isaiah 51:1, ESV, remember your roots and from whence you came!).
Christ is said to have "emptied Himself" when He became man, which really is another way of saying He laid aside His omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence to take the form of man and relate to us on our terms--such as finding out what tears felt like, or sweat on the brow. He didn't cease being God the Son, though! Jesus saw things through the eyes of man for the first time and now He can relate to us as a faithful high priest, tempted in every way as we. Philippians 2 uses the word kenosis in Greek to mean emptying, but He didn't empty Himself of His deity, but merely restrained the independent use of it and served the purpose of the Father.
Jesus humbled Himself by leaving His throne, to being born in a manger because there was no room at the inn, suffering the humility of a crucifixion between two malefactors. We must, therefore, keep on eyes on Jesus (cf. Heb. 12:1), as it is said: look at the world and distressed; look at yourself and be depressed; look at Christ and be at rest ("Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose thoughts are stayed on Thee," says Isa. 26:3).
Humility gets down on its knees and nothing is beneath it, much the way Jesus did in the Upper Room in the servile act of washing His disciples' feet. John the Baptist said that Jesus must increase, and he must decrease. "...[He] crowns the humble with victory [salvation]" (Psalm 149:4, ESV). He understood that the way up is down in God's economy! "...[A]nd humility comes before honor" (Prov. 15:33, ESV). "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you" (James 4:10, ESV, italics mine). Jesus was asked who would be the greatest in His kingdom: He who humbled himself as a child (cf. Matt. 18:3)! We, too, can empty ourselves of all pretense and stoop to help those in need that God brings our way or into our sphere of influence.
If Jesus could humble Himself, it's not beneath our dignity to do any "foot-washing--in public or private." He said we ought to do likewise, instituting the "order of the towel." "In his humiliation justice was denied him..." (Acts 8:33, ESV). A good example of a humble mind is George Whitefield saying, "There but for the grace of God, go I," when seeing a criminal going to the gallows. We are to prefer one another and honor one another in Christ (as Romans 12:10, NKJV says, "....in honor giving preference to one another"), not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought (cf. Romans 12:3).
There is no caste system in the church, as each of us is one in Christ and all brethren in the family of God. Service is where it's at: The more you serve, the greater you are, not the more who serve you! Albert Schweitzer said that the only really happy people are those who've learned to serve. A non-serving Christian is a contradiction in terms, as we are called to serve one another in Christ. We must be willing to follow Jesus in humility and serve Him in whatever capacity possible.
True humility is not having low self-esteem or thinking less of yourself, but not thinking of yourself at all. When you think you've arrived at true humility, you have lost it! "...' God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble"" (cf. James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5). Therefore, we all have the tendency to have pride in ourselves and to think highly of ourselves (more highly than we ought!), wanting to be seen in the best possible light (with a good reputation), but with Christ in our heart, we see things through His eyes and lose all pretense of our own self-importance.
No one is ever truly humble a la Christ, (for example, only Jesus and Moses are called humble or meek in Scripture!). When we think we're humble or that we've arrived, we have missed the boat! Humility means that all we are is servants of God and the most we can hope for is to hear with joy the words: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of the Lord!" To reiterate: Our greatness is not in how many people serve us, but how many we serve--just the opposite of human insight or viewpoint. We should not desire to be number one as Diotrephes did in 3 John, but esteem others with all due respect. One statement that humbles me is from Mother Teresa of Calcutta (now canonized): God doesn't call us to success, but to faithfulness! Never lose sight of the fact that it's not about you!
The conclusion of the matter is: The best leaders are those who've learned to follow, the ones with servant's hearts know their Lord and aren't power-hungry or lustful, but see leadership opportunity as stewardship possibilities. God's purpose is to keep us from getting a big head! Soli Deo Gloria!
"For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite" (Isaiah 57:15, ESV, lowly means humble!).
"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug" (Isaiah 51:1, ESV, remember your roots and from whence you came!).
Christ is said to have "emptied Himself" when He became man, which really is another way of saying He laid aside His omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence to take the form of man and relate to us on our terms--such as finding out what tears felt like, or sweat on the brow. He didn't cease being God the Son, though! Jesus saw things through the eyes of man for the first time and now He can relate to us as a faithful high priest, tempted in every way as we. Philippians 2 uses the word kenosis in Greek to mean emptying, but He didn't empty Himself of His deity, but merely restrained the independent use of it and served the purpose of the Father.
Jesus humbled Himself by leaving His throne, to being born in a manger because there was no room at the inn, suffering the humility of a crucifixion between two malefactors. We must, therefore, keep on eyes on Jesus (cf. Heb. 12:1), as it is said: look at the world and distressed; look at yourself and be depressed; look at Christ and be at rest ("Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose thoughts are stayed on Thee," says Isa. 26:3).
Humility gets down on its knees and nothing is beneath it, much the way Jesus did in the Upper Room in the servile act of washing His disciples' feet. John the Baptist said that Jesus must increase, and he must decrease. "...[He] crowns the humble with victory [salvation]" (Psalm 149:4, ESV). He understood that the way up is down in God's economy! "...[A]nd humility comes before honor" (Prov. 15:33, ESV). "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you" (James 4:10, ESV, italics mine). Jesus was asked who would be the greatest in His kingdom: He who humbled himself as a child (cf. Matt. 18:3)! We, too, can empty ourselves of all pretense and stoop to help those in need that God brings our way or into our sphere of influence.
If Jesus could humble Himself, it's not beneath our dignity to do any "foot-washing--in public or private." He said we ought to do likewise, instituting the "order of the towel." "In his humiliation justice was denied him..." (Acts 8:33, ESV). A good example of a humble mind is George Whitefield saying, "There but for the grace of God, go I," when seeing a criminal going to the gallows. We are to prefer one another and honor one another in Christ (as Romans 12:10, NKJV says, "....in honor giving preference to one another"), not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought (cf. Romans 12:3).
There is no caste system in the church, as each of us is one in Christ and all brethren in the family of God. Service is where it's at: The more you serve, the greater you are, not the more who serve you! Albert Schweitzer said that the only really happy people are those who've learned to serve. A non-serving Christian is a contradiction in terms, as we are called to serve one another in Christ. We must be willing to follow Jesus in humility and serve Him in whatever capacity possible.
True humility is not having low self-esteem or thinking less of yourself, but not thinking of yourself at all. When you think you've arrived at true humility, you have lost it! "...' God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble"" (cf. James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5). Therefore, we all have the tendency to have pride in ourselves and to think highly of ourselves (more highly than we ought!), wanting to be seen in the best possible light (with a good reputation), but with Christ in our heart, we see things through His eyes and lose all pretense of our own self-importance.
No one is ever truly humble a la Christ, (for example, only Jesus and Moses are called humble or meek in Scripture!). When we think we're humble or that we've arrived, we have missed the boat! Humility means that all we are is servants of God and the most we can hope for is to hear with joy the words: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of the Lord!" To reiterate: Our greatness is not in how many people serve us, but how many we serve--just the opposite of human insight or viewpoint. We should not desire to be number one as Diotrephes did in 3 John, but esteem others with all due respect. One statement that humbles me is from Mother Teresa of Calcutta (now canonized): God doesn't call us to success, but to faithfulness! Never lose sight of the fact that it's not about you!
The conclusion of the matter is: The best leaders are those who've learned to follow, the ones with servant's hearts know their Lord and aren't power-hungry or lustful, but see leadership opportunity as stewardship possibilities. God's purpose is to keep us from getting a big head! Soli Deo Gloria!