“We begin with behold,” is how we ended last week’s post. We’ve been exploring God’s glory and, though it is impossible to grasp the manifestation of His infinite perfection, all creation proclaims “his eternal power and divine nature.” (Romans 1:20) Beauty we behold, power we praise and we marvel at majesty, yet glory gleams brilliantly, too, from a facet of God’s being we are less naturally inclined to esteem: humility. Most of us look upon humility with kindness, some genuinely and some in a more patronizing way, as though coddling an innocent. Still others regard humility with an element of scorn: “Nice guys finish last,” they scoff. Yet humility quietly stands its ground, letting its detractors—pride and arrogance—proclaim their own weakness and shout their own demise. After all, who needs to assert their own greatness, but those who question it? What truly confident person would belittle the lives of others in order to magnify his or her own?
True humility rises higher in God’s eyes than anything this world esteems, even as it reaches down to serve a people steeped in pride. We need a true understanding of humility; we need to behold it where it shines in immutable glory, the person of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became 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, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11)
That’s humility! That’s glory! That’s how God glorifies the humble. And aren’t we glad? The One who sits above all else, stooped down to serve us and rose to glorify His Father in heaven. Who then deserves our glory—our everything—more than Christ Jesus? No one.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10
Father, you humble us, not through our shame, but in your love. Jesus, you serve us, not because we deserve it, but because we need you. Spirit, come fill us, that we would live in the freedom of humility—humility that overcomes our pride, serves others, and glorifies God. Amen.
Paul Nordman—Author 