Humble Yourself

So, we are five weeks out from the national elections. We are parked on 2 Chronicles 7:14 If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. In the last week we have established that God's actions are conditional on the actions of those who are called by His name. For convenience sake, I will assume that if you are reading this series, you are one of His people. So far, so good.

Now, the more difficult part. We are called to humble ourselves. Try this little experiment. Close your eyes and think about humbling yourself before the Lord. What do you see in your mind's eye? The first thing I see is an image of me kneeling in an Episcopal church. The light is streaming through the stained glass windows and the organ is playing ancient hymns in the background. Tiny little problem. I have not been a member of the Episcopal church for over 15 years. That's what we call a clue that we might want to study the subject a bit.

And, before you laugh at me, (any more than you already have) you might want to think about your own concept of humility. In preparation for this series of devotionals friends and colleagues were put on the spot as I asked them what the word meant to them. Nobody came up with a really clear, concise answer for me. My search of scripture brought up every verse that had the word "humility" included. My search of outside sources led me to some awesome writings on the concept.

The bottom line - the concept that seems too complex to articulate is extraordinarily simple. We just need help to see it.

Since my teenage years I have had to wear glasses or contact lenses to correct my vision. For those of you who share the problem of poor vision, try to remember the first new pair of glasses you had. Walking out of the doctor's office I was awed by the fact that trees were not just fluffy green things, but actually had distinct leaves. With my new glasses, things seemed brighter, more focused, and I was certainly less likely to confuse the cat with the dog.

So it is with humility. God figured out pretty early that we were not getting the concept. So, He sent Jesus for our salvation. Humility, viewed through the corrective lenses of our salvation, comes into much sharper focus.

Everything about the life and death of Jesus points to His humility. He humbled Himself and came down from Heaven to live on earth as a man. He humbled Himself and became a servant to those around Him. He humbled Himself and died on the cross so that we could have the Holy Spirit to enable us to also live lives of humility.

His humility is our salvation. Our salvation empowers us to live lives of humility.

Lord, the answer is so simple. We just need to be more like Jesus. And, yet, so difficult. Show us the way.