Have you ever thought about the humility of God? That not only is He the Most High but the Most Lowly, too? The more I think about it, the more it actually makes sense to me, you know? Especially when I consider that anything good (including humility) finds its origin and fullest expression in God; and, too, that God seems to take great pleasure in seeing humility spring forth from within His children. Because humility seems to be such an intimate and all encompassing part of God's Nature and Personality, I have this feeling that God is intensely pleased when He is invited to share such parts of Himself with us.
Marriam-Webster offers the following definitions for humility:
1.
The state of being humble;
2.
The absence of any feelings of being
better than anyone else;
3.
Having or showing a consciousness of
one's shortcomings;
4.
Modest;
5.
Lowly; unpretentious; and
6.
Abased.
Despite
these multiple (and, I think, useful) articulations, I am not quite sure MW is really getting at the essence of
true humility. As such, I'm wondering
if humility is just one of those rare states of being that, in many ways,
defies adequate description. In fact, I
would venture that it is our indirect experience of humility that lets us know
when we've encountered it. And it is
this particular reality that, I think, hints at why humility may be so important
to God. When I look unto Jesus, "the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being" (Hebrews 1:3a), I think upon Philippians 2:5, which teaches that this Jesus, Who being God, "made himself nothing" when He came to earth as a man. Made Himself nothing. Are you as intrigued by those words as I am? Other translations of this verse read as follows:
1.
"stripped himself of all privilege"
(J.B. Phillips New Testament);
2.
"made himself of no
reputation" (New King James Version); and
3.
"emptied himself" (New
American Standard Bible).
I
love these, and I believe that together they give us a glimpse into the
humility of He Who is the Standard-Bearer of true humility. YHVH, The Name of Existence, emptied Himself, stripped Himself of all privilege and reputation, and made Himself
nothing so that He might reconcile all things to himself.Yes...these things are very intriguing to me. So...for the next little while, I'd like to delve into what I believe to be three key components of humility.
Becoming
Nothing
For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to The Beatitudes in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount—especially to His first beatific if-then statement: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3).
The older I get, the more convinced I am that, aside from the confession of sin (and the repentance from it as well!), there is nothing God lauds or asks of us that He Himself does not already possess or practice. A basic example of such a hypothesis would be God's command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. The reason God asks this of us is because He Himself is Love by definition. For us to obey God in this manner is to, quite simply, be like Him in that respect. Take the act of laying down one's life for another. While such a virtuous deed is not overtly commanded by God, Jesus regards such a thing as the greatest act of love one man (or woman) could do for another (see John 15:13). The reason Jesus was able to make such a judgment was because He Himself was just days from laying His life down for the whole world.
But what of the condition of being poor in spirit? Was this true of Jesus when He walked the face of the planet? Having given this considerable thought, I have no doubt but that He was. Jesus did not just preach poverty of spirit, He embraced it—embodied it, even. Not only did He make Himself poor, but He adopted the posture of a lowly slave and opened Himself up willingly to the problems, neediness, and spiritual oppressions we all face to one degree or another. Throughout the gospels, one cannot help but notice how Jesus seemed to live from day to day on what His Father gave Him. Jesus, as a human, was limited; He knew He was in enemy territory, and He knew, too, that He had needs that could only be met external to Himself. In becoming nothing, Jesus enslaved Himself to a paradigm where He could do nothing but look to God to provide for Him, protect Him, and empower Him. Think about that for moment...Jesus, God Almighty, stripped Himself of the privilege, power, and majesty of His preexistent state and allowed Himself to be born into slavery so that He might in His humanness do that which only a human (the second or last Adam [see 1 Corinthians 14:45]) could do to redeem back humanity from the clutches of sin, death, and enemy control.
How willing are you to strip yourself of all that you are and have so that you might benefit another? The interesting thing is that only God has to power to do this. Jesus got His ability from God, and so can we, for that is how we are meant to live.
Surrender
Marriam-Webster defines surrender as such:
1. To yield to the power, control,
or possession of another upon compulsion or demand;
2. To give up completely or agree to
forgo especially in favor of another;
3. To give (oneself) up into the
power of another especially as a prisoner; and
4. To give (oneself) over to
something (as an influence).
In a nutshell, to surrender is to willfully accept and yield (as a slave or, even, as a prisoner) to the will of a dominating force or higher power. Jesus lived what I believe to be "the surrendered life". As a human being, He surrendered himself totally and completely to God; He also submitted to His parents (see Luke 2:51) and to the religious and civil authorities of His day (see Mark 12:17 and John 18:1-19:27). This is seen not just in His day to day life but also during the darkest times of His existence: While He anguished in the Garden of Gethsemane, and while He suffered on the cross at Golgotha. In my own prayer life, I have adopted and strung together two things Jesus prayed during these last two events of His life. The first is found in Luke 22:42, which Jesus said while in Gethsemane: "Not my will but thine"; the second is found one chapter later in Luke 23:46, which Jesus cried out to the father while He hung on the cross: "Into your hands, I commit my spirit". Combined together, these two prayers read as follows: "Not my will but Thine; into Your Hands I commit my spirit." For many years, this particular prayer has been my own personal anthem of surrender and consecration.
A surrendered person has not only been consecrated (made holy, set apart, branded) by God, but has embodied that consecration. What does a surrendered person's life look like? Drawing from the life of Jesus and from the many themes of surrendered living portrayed throughout both the Old and New Testaments, one is, I believe, on the narrow road of humility when he or she…
·
Does
not have to have a particular thing happen (for example, get THAT job or marry
THAT person) to feel like his or her life will work out.
·
Needs
neither notoriety nor to be noticed, esteemed, or, even, recognized by others.
·
Is
genuinely happy for and rejoices with a peer when such a one does well on a difficult
exam, is promoted, is blessed in ministry, lands a fabulous job, wins the heart
of the prettiest girl in school, gets in to grad school, gets married, has a
baby, etc.
·
Prefers
to serve rather than to be served and adopts such a posture unassumingly, without
presumption and without announcement.
·
Lends
or gives to others without expecting anything in return, including repayment.
·
Is
committed to the local community of faith and values harmony as that community
seeks to express the love of God toward each other and toward those outside their
community.
·
Has
fun helping others to discover their dreams, to live-in to their own unique
happiness, or just to enjoy themselves.
·
Gives
back to God far more than just "the tithe".
·
Listens
to the Whispers of God’s Spirit and is readily available to serve God whenever
God says, "Now...".
·
Does
not have to be the best, the brightest, the most good looking, or the most
talented.
·
Has
an almost unquenchable desire to please his or her Abba-Daddy.
·
Speaks
the truth in love, even when doing so is unpopular or feels incredibly
uncomfortable.
·
Would
choose 100 out of 100 times to be the one stolen from as opposed to the one who
steals from another…even if he or she were assured of never being caught.
·
Actively
embraces a heart of gratefulness in most situations, and complains rarely, if ever.
·
Is
not easily offended.
·
Forgives
without so much as a thought because such a one decided long ago to forgive before
anything was said or done.
·
Is
not ashamed of Jesus or of His gospel.
·
Is
comfortable with silence and stillness.
·
Is
an expressive worshiper of God.
·
Recognizes
that everyone on earth is in the same boat:
And that is, that we are all in desperate need for God to do for us that
which we cannot do for ourselves.
·
Loves
purely for the joy of loving others and does not consider not being loved in
return that big of a deal.
·
Delights
in inviting God to be a part of every thought, feeling, word, and action.
·
Always
has enough to share with another.
·
Endeavors
to do the right thing—especially, when he or she is alone.
·
Has
been thoroughly tamed by God and treats others with the utmost kindness,
respect, dignity, and compassion.
·
Sees
himself or herself as nothing more than a conduit of God’s loving-kindness,
joy, compassion, and blessing to those around him or her.
·
Is
happy…pretty much all the time…even when feeling sad or broken.
·
Loves
language and words and feels things intensely, but is, surprisingly, slow to
speak and slow to become angry.
·
Listens
without interrupting (or without trying to think of what he or she would like
to say) while another is speaking.
·
Is
frugal (yet extremely generous) with his or her time, money, and resources.
Emptying Oneself
Buddhist thought teaches that to enjoy peace of mind, once must live presently by emptying one's mind of all self-focused thought, meaning the "hooks" and "sticky feedback loops" within the mind (regrets, unfulfilled longings, resentments, judgments, the desire to impress, etc.) that distract one from living in the here and now. While I agree that empty-mindedness (aka mindfulness) is crucial to peace of mind, the concept of emptying one's mind and emptying oneself are not the same thing.
To
empty one's mind is to let go of one's caressing attention to or fixation upon
one's self-thoughts and to, instead, turn one's attention back to the physical aspects
of existence—for example, to one's breath. To
empty oneself, though, involves not just the emptying of one's self-thoughts,
but also the laying down of one's rights, one's needs, one's privileges, and
one's personal desires. There are two
crucial elements to emptying oneself that I think point to things far beyond just the "emptying" exercise above; they are as follows:
1. When we empty ourselves, we create room wherein God can give us that which He longs to give us; more often than not, these are the very things
we've been longing for our entire lives.
2. When we empty ourselves
and then receive that which God has given us, we can, in turn, "empty
ourselves" into those around us (and give away that which we cannot lose!).
Jesus set the example in all these
things. Not only did He lay aside His
powers, rights, and privileges as God, but He made Himself empty before His
Father so that, paradoxically, His cup might be filled to overflowing with God's
Touch and Presence. And it was out of
that fullness, which He drank of daily, that He was able to pour Himself out into
those around Him.
Prayer of Humility
Holy Father...
My need for you far exceeds my comprehension of that need. Help me, Lord, to walk in a manner that's surrendered before You...
...like someone who's made himself nothing...
...like someone who's been brought to a place of easy and continual emptying...
...so that I might be able to receive from You all that You have for me and then give it away to those around me.
I'm reminded, Lord, of something the missionary Jim Elliot wrote in his diary not long before he was martyred: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Lord...may my life be lived in such a manner.
Not my will but Thine; into Your Hands I commit my spirit...
Amen.
