In the regal kingdom of the oxymoron, this may be the glorified crown. Doesn’t it seem painfully obvious, that to claim the attainment of humility with the pride of accomplishment, is to negate the claim? To stand upon the mountain and, with raised fist proclaim, “I have mastered humility,” is absurd. It is a human impossibility to be proud of your own humble nature. The Biblical statement, “With man this this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” while being lifted out of context, could aptly apply here.
When we think of humility we can easily mistake this quality as being synonymous with being a milquetoast. Humility does not mean timidity. 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self discipline.” The Godly person is given this spirit at the point of their conversion. When we accept Christ our old self dies and we become new. It is easy to find that our dying pride is trying to run wild with the characteristics of this new spirit. The power, which is Christ working in us by His Holy Spirit, stands along side the remnants of our old dying nature and the pride that is crumbling away tries to latch on to this power to remain alive within us. But this is a human failing. True humility is such that only God can rightly proclaim it as a attribute of Himself.
God can say, “I am humble,” and have it be true, but if any mortal were to say this of themselves, it could only be pride speaking. In Numbers 12, we learn that Moses was, “… more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” This seems like a very prideful boast, and it would be if Moses had said it about himself, but he didn’t. This statement concerning Moses was given to us by God Himself. I can’t help but wonder that Moses, being the scribe of this book, must have felt a little uncomfortable writing these words about himself. I can almost see him cocking his head, just a bit, and thinking, “Me? Really? Well, OK, you‘re God, you oughta know!”
The other proclamation of self-humility that comes to mind was made by the Lord Jesus Christ; Matthew 11:29, “… for I am gentle and humble of heart.” Since Jesus is the incarnate God, He can get away with this sort of thing. God, who is perfect in all things, is the only one who can rightfully self-proclaim a perfect humility. While humility is, in part, holding ourselves no higher than others, I believe that we ought to see humility, Godly humility, in a slightly different light. We need to begin by trying to determine what is meant in the Bible by the use of the word humility. Is it the same as our common usage?
Yes, and no. Yes, we are to submit ourselves to the rule of our rightful master and the governing authorities; No, we can not allow ourselves to be walked upon by those who are in no position to control their own lives, much less ours. What I’m saying is simply this; We can be rightfully humble in following the dictates of the civil laws of society but we must draw a line at falsifying reports in favor of an un-Godly employer. As we read and incorporate the Word of God into our lives, these are instructions we are to follow, but when presented with the prospect of violating what God has shown us to be acceptable behavior, we must stand on God’s moral base. The Biblical use of, “humble,” is more on the order of being obedient, and not as much on the order of timid submissiveness.
In Philippians 2:8 we see that the life of Christ Jesus was one of true humility in that, “… He humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!” The Christ of God, very God Himself, is so far above the power of death that to submit to it in obedience is true humility. Yet, Jesus was not timid or demure when He drove the money changers and merchants from the temple, neither was Moses concerned about preserving a human concept of humility when he broke the stone tablets and chastened Aaron for allowing Israel to worship a golden calf! To act in righteousness as a result of the dictates of the revealed Word of God is not a violation of humility it is the obligation of the humble.
When Moses faced Pharaoh with God’s command to let His people go, he was either the most arrogant and foolhardy of men, or the most humble and obedient of servants. Pharaoh surely saw him as a fool to come before him making demands in the name of his God and performing magic tricks with his staff. How could anyone in their right mind confront the, (arguably), most powerful ruler on earth and think he could demand anything? Moses knew something that it took Pharaoh a long time to figure out; that God is to be feared far more than any ruler of the earth. Moses may have been bold and unyielding before the throne of Egypt but he was the most humble of messengers before the throne of God.
Moses may not have appeared to humble himself before man, but he was the model of humility through obedience before God. Aaron, Miriam and even Korah murmured against Moses in their own petty jealousies somehow thinking that Moses was putting himself above them when, in fact, he was burdened before men in the carrying out of the instructions of God. He led Israel through the desert wandering from place to place in a way that probably made many think he was lost, following a silly old cloud, and there were some who must have thought that their fate would have been better trusted to someone else. Some may have wanted to see a woman at the front of the procession; after all, if they were lost, she would have at least asked for directions, right?
Often times God uses the exact opposite of who you might think He would select to accomplish His goals. This is largely due to showing that the completion of an act, whatever it might be, is the result of the workings of God and done through the hands of man. Gideon, Sampson, David and many others were the least of men used to do the most unimaginable feats at the command of God. While God may choose to use the least in order to accomplish the most, at other times, He uses the greatest to accomplish a small task. It is an easy thing to die, anyone can do it and one day we will all be called to lay this body down, but who does He use to die for the sake of man? He did it himself! How awesome a feat that God should die on our behalf, the God who controls the very reigns of creation. But regardless of whether it is the greatest being doing the simple, or the simple being used to do the greatest; there is no distinction between the obedience needed to carry out the dictates of God. It is obedience that is used to measure humility.
Perfect humility is Jesus hanging in agony on a Roman cross when, at a word, He could have come down, walked away and spent the afternoon fishing. It was the will of the Father that put Jesus on that cross for us and it was the obedience of Christ that kept Him there in unimaginable pain and humiliation unto His physical death. He did it for us. He did it for me. He did it for you. Without the obedience of the Son, we were lost forever with no hope of salvation; with the obedient humility of Christ Jesus, we have been given that hope; still, so many refuse to accept the grace in that offering.
It is not our charge to be walked upon by the world for the sake of Christ, but to be obedient to the Word. I wish I could make a case that proved that it is somehow easier to be obedient to God than it is to carry on the earthly, mortal concept of humility, but it is not. We consistently fail at both. It is no easier to do what we should do than it is to not do the things we should avoid. But we have this model to strive for, a pattern to try to follow, a goal that although seemingly out of our grasp, should never be allowed to thwart the intent of our reach. We, as humans, may never be able to kill the prideful desires of our wicked hearts, but neither can we allow them to chart our courses. We may never be able to be truly holy, but neither can we allow ourselves to discard the desire to be so. We may never be able to embody the perfection of humility, but neither can we allow ourselves to rest on our laurels thinking that mediocrity is a viable substitute.
We can not ever allow our pride to make us think that we deserve the blessings of God. Salvation is the gift of grace by faith in Christ Jesus and not because we deserve it, I can not bear to think of the consequences if we were to receive the justice that we deserve, but by the grace of God we can thank Him for the mercy which has brought us to Jesus. Knowing who our master is, the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be humble in service to our King and still stand firm in the righteousness of our Saviour. Let the world see our kneeling before the throne of God, let them wonder at the works that God accomplishes through us knowing that it is by our fruit that we are recognized. Let them wonder at a life being lived….
All for the Glory of Christ
