Be Humble

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.  Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.  James 4:7-10

Humble.  It’s the title of one of my favorite rap songs.  It’s also a state of mind.  Being humble can be confusing.  Most people mistaken being humble for weakness.  In fact, one definition for the word ‘humble’ means having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience, etc.  However, its primary definition is not proud or arrogant; modest.  The former definition used to be what I believed.  “You have to make yourself smaller or meek,” I thought.  However, we know Jesus himself was humble, and there is no one who would ever consider Him either small or meek.  So what is it that I was confusing?  The answer came through one of my favorite authors.  He wrote that humility is a person being willing and able to put others interests above his or her own.  Note, it neither means to be a doormat to others nor to fall back to someone else simply to appease them.  It does means that you are willing to put your own interest aside for the good of the whole.  Jesus had plenty of opportunities to give Himself up to Pharisees.  But after His work was done, He then sacrificed Himself in humble obedience to God for all humanity.  This is why we follow Him as an example.

If we submit ourselves before God, He will lift us up above our circumstances.  Today’s verses speak of building a close relationship through God.  It speaks about humbling ourselves on two occasions.  Why is this so important?  The answer is fairly simple.  Numerous times, we have this debate between God and ourselves about who is ultimately in control of our lives.  We play tug of war knowing that if we truly follow Christ, we understand that it is not a winnable war.  Thus, we can either control our lives at the cost of being fully disconnected with God or choose to surrender all that we want for what He wants.  While I openly must admit that I often pull toward that side of wanting to be in control, I have learned to let go more to God, and the only way that occurs is to acknowledge He is bigger than me.  We must be willing to go to Him and say, “I cannot make it without you!”  Thus, today’s verses give us a clear picture of what humility is all about.  It’s having strength to surrender all to Him but not the world.

Humility is about knowing who you are in relationship with God.  I started this devotion noting two different definitions for humble.  We must understand that when it is in respect to God, we are the subservient follower, but when dealing with the world, God expects us to be modest servant of Christ willing to do His will above others for His glory.  Furthermore, we are to welcome those who come to us just as God was when He first found us.  Jesus illustrated this saying:

I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.  So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. (Matthew 18:3b-5)

Jesus said this understanding that being like a little child illustrates dependency; as in our dependence on God.  Let us commit to serving God both as His servant and serving others.  What do you need to humbly submit to God today?  Who can you humbly serve in Jesus’ name?  My prayer is that in the truest sense, we can as the rap song says, “Be humble!”  Amen.