HUMILITY IN THE LIFE OF JESUS
"In the midst of you, I am like who serves" (Luke 22.27).
In the Gospel of John, we have the inner life of our Lord exposed to us. Jesus there speaks frequently of His relationship with the Father, of the motives for which He is guided, of His awareness of the power of the spirit in which He acts. Although the word "humble" does not appear, there is no other place in the Scriptures where we see so clearly what His humility consisted of. We already said that this grace, in truth, is nothing but the simple consent of the creature to allow God to be everything, by virtue of surrendering exclusively his operation. In Jesus, we will see that, as both Son of God in the heavens and man on earth, He took the place of total subordination and gave God the honor and glory that are due to Him. And what He taught so often became true for Him still: "Whoever will still humble himself will be exalted" (Mt. 23.12). As it is written: "A Yes He was still humbled (...) so God also exalted Him exceedingly" (Fp 2.8, 9).
Hear the words in which the Lord speaks of His relationship with the Father, and see how He unceasingly uses the words "no" and "nothing" to refer to Him yet. The "not me," in which Paul expresses his relationship with Christ, is the same spirit in which Christ speaks of His relationship with the Father.
"The Son can do nothing even of Himself" (John 5.19).
"I can do nothing of Me yet (...) My judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will" (v. 30).
"I do not accept glory that comes from men" (v. 41).
"I came down from heaven, not to do my own will" (6.38).
"My teaching is not Mine" (7.16).
"I did not come from Me yet" (v. 28 - RC).
"I do nothing for Me yet" (8.28).
"I did not come from Me yet, but He sent Me" (8.42).
"I do not seek my own glory" (v. 50).
"The words that I tell you, I do not say them for Me yet" (14.10).
"The word you are hearing is not Mine" (v. 24).
These words open for us the deepest roots of the life and work of Christ. Almighty God could work His wonderful work of redemption through Him, Christ. They show what Christ considered as the state of heart that fitted him as the Son of the Father. They teach us what the essential nature and life of that redemption that Christ fulfilled and now transmits are. It is this: He was nothing for God to be everything. He renounced Himself even totally, with His will and His strength, so that the Father could work in Him. Of Your own power, His own gain, His own glory, of all his mission with all his works and His teaching - of all that, He said:
"I am not I, I am nothing, I gave myself totally to the Father to work, I am nothing, the Father is everything".
Christ discovered that this life of total abnegation, of absolute submission and dependence on the Father's will was a life of perfect peace and joy. He did not lose anything giving everything to God. God honored His trust and did everything to
He, and then, He exalted Him to His right hand in glory. And because Christ humbled himself so before God, and God was always before Him, He found it possible to humble Himself before men also and be the Servant of all. His humility was simply to surrender to Himself even God to allow God to do in Him what pleased Him, not importing what men at His return would say about Him or do to Him.
It is in that state of mind, in that spirit and disposition, that the redemption of Christ has its virtue and efficacy. It is to bring us to that disposition that we are made partakers of Christ. This is the true self-denial, for which our Savior calls them: the recognition that the ego has nothing good in it yet, except as an empty vessel that God has to fill, and that his claim to be or do any thing should not, for a moment, be allowed. It is in this, above and before all things, that conformity with Jesus consists: nothing to be and nothing to do of ourselves, so that God may be everything.
8 Here we have the root and nature of true humility. By not understanding or collecting that is that our humility is so superficial and so weak. We have to learn from Jesus, who is meek and humble of heart. He teaches us where true humility has its origin and finds its strength: in the knowledge that it is God who operates all in all, that our duty is to surrender ourselves to Him in perfect resignation and dependence, in full consent not to be and do nothing by ourselves. This is the life that Christ came to reveal and grant: a life for God that came through death for sin and for the ego.
It was because that humility was not just a temporary feeling aroused and brought into exercise when He considered God, but it was the very Spirit of His whole life, that Jesus was as humble in His relationship with men as He was in His relationship with God. He felt the Servant of God for the men that God made and loved; As a natural consequence, He was considered as the Servant of men so that, through Him, God could do His work of love. He never, even for a moment, thought about collecting His own honor or using His power to vindicate Himself.
Brother, are you clothed with humility? Ask your daily life. Ask Jesus Ask your friends. Ask the world. And begin to praise God, for it was opened to you, in Jesus, a heavenly humility that you barely knew and, for which, a blessing that you have probably never tasted, may still come to you.
"The vision of the glory of God produces humility. The stars disappear when the sun appears. "
(Thomas Watson)
In this world full of pride, many people think that humility is a sign of weakness or lack of confidence. But in reality it is the opposite: being humble requires strength and courage. Humility is the opposite of pride and arrogance, and is related to the opinion we have of ourselves. A Bible Dictionary says that being humble is recognizing that God is much more powerful and important than we are. Accepting this will prevent us from creating ourselves superior to other people (Rom 12: 3, Philip 2: 3). As we are all imperfect, it is difficult for us to demonstrate humility. Therefore, if we want to cultivate this quality, we must meditate on the greatness of Jehovah and follow in the footsteps of his Son.
Excellent message apostle @darlenys01. If we read the Gospels carefully, we can see, very clearly, that in Jesus, God is not defined by his power, or by his strength, as the Israelites thought and as they expected him to be his Messenger.
In Jesus, God has revealed himself to us as an essentially humble God. Humility is one of its many attributes. It seems strange, but it is not.
While on Earth, the Son of God demonstrated with his way of speaking and acting that he was a humble person. Your way of speaking. Jesus did not try to attract attention and always attributed all the glory to his Father (Mark 10:17, 18, John 7:16). He did not despise his followers or make them feel inferior. Rather, he spoke to them with respect and dignity, congratulated them on the good things they did and assured them that he trusted them (Luke 22:31, 32, John 1:47).
Humility is a great treasure, it is a characteristic of the soul, those who live it, express faith and an action in their acts difficult to explain with words, it is a great joy to observe a humble person full of faith.
Unfortunately many people ruin this term, with their ego and their pride.
To reach humility, is to touch the sky, is to achieve riches and live a paid life on this earth.
The book of proverbs says: "Riches, honor and life are the reward of the humility and fear of Jehovah"
Excellent teaching @ darlenys01.
Blessings!
Truly, if we fail to come to the realization that we should be humble when God pours glory on us and uses us for mighty works, then we cannot have a sustained glory. Thank you @darlenys01 for sharing this truth.
"You call me the" Teacher "and the" Lord ", and they say well because I am. Well, if I, the Lord and the Master, have washed your feet, you should also wash each other's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also may do as I have done to you "(John 13, 13-15)
What a beautiful teaching, dear apostle @darlenys01, we must ask our God that every day we are humble and remove from us all haughtiness of heart, his word says that in "Psalm 136: 6 For the LORD is exalted, and he tends the humble, he haughty looks far away. "
God bless you
Jesus, God-with-us, is a God who bows before us to serve us. God who puts himself at our disposal and does everything in his power to free us from everything that enslaves us, and thus elevate us to our dignity as children of God, even in spite of ourselves. To teach us that the most important thing is not to place one over the others and dominate them, but to make us all servants. That's why he tells us:
"Whoever wants to become great among you, will be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you, will be your slave; in the same way that the Son of man has not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many "(Matthew 20, 26-28).
"Have among yourselves the same feelings that Christ had: who, being of divine condition, did not eagerly retain being equal to God. But he emptied himself, taking the condition of a servant, making himself similar to men and appearing in his bearing as a man; and humbled himself, obeying unto death and a death on a cross ... "(Philippians 2: 5-8)
The Bible makes an important distinction between humility, pride, because these do not allow entry to humility, because one differs from the other. In this regard the apostle Santiago said : "God resists the proud, and gives thanks to the humble."
Christians must review and deepen humility, because pride and arrogance have also penetrated the church, destroying this great virtue.
Exccelente reflexion @ darlenys01.