Monterrey Devotional, Day 2: Humility

A few weeks ago, I wrote in my blog about “humility”. It is my least favorite issue to deal with. It seems like I have to wrestle with it A LOT! But, I’m thankful that God reminds me from time to time, in a bold way, that He is God and I am not!

Here’s the story I told:

The other night, my husband came home from work exhausted. He's been working so hard, and giving every spare minute to our family and the "honey do" list. We were getting ready to leave on a 10-day vacation. I didn't have the heart to ask him to mow the lawn (which DESPERATELY needed it--the grass is growing so fast right now). We have a large yard that requires so much care, and though we feel like we work in it often, there's always something else to do in it. So, instead of hitting him up with "Can you mow the lawn?" the minute he walked in the door, I asked him to show me how to use the mower. It's a new riding lawn mower, so I figured it couldn't be too hard. I could get the yard done in no time, and he could come in and kick his shoes off and relax.

He was so appreciative, so he quickly gave me a lesson. I got on it, and released the brake to go forward. Immediately, it jerked and I was thrown forward. Evidently, I released the brake a little too fast. I slammed on the brake again, laughing (and a little shaken). I looked up, and noticed that there were 8 roofers on my next-door neighbors' roof, laughing and pointing at me. A very obvious lesson in humility!!!!! I waved and laughed and continued on with trying to figure out the mower, and finished the lawn (well, almost...my husband had to negotiate the hill in front).

Okay, let’s just get it out in the open. We will all probably deal with lessons in humility over the next four days. Perhaps, it will be because we misspeak about something minor. The first time I was in Cuba, I tried to tell someone my son was 7, and mistakenly said I had seven sons! Imagine the look on their face. Well, I’m sure that the more I try to speak Spanish, the more I’ll fail, but I’d rather try and have a little laughter than not build a relationship with anyone along the way. That would be so much more of a failure! Perhaps it will be a larger faux pas—something that hurts another individual. We must be on our guard.

But, my prayer is that we’ll go even deeper than that surface humility—not the kind that’s about us and our feelings, but the kind that develops true servants. Let’s turn to scripture…again to Philippians…and see what Paul has to say about it, starting in Chapter 2, Verse 3:

3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Meditate on that statement a moment—YOU MUST HAVE THE SAME ATTITUDE THAT CHRIST JESUS HAD. How is that even possible? What a HUGE expectation. But, that’s what Paul tells us we need to do. Spend a moment asking God for that sentence to manifest itself in your life! Read on:

6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

God is not asking us to die right now on this trip. But He is asking us to serve. Look around for the humble positions of a servant that we can take to serve our brothers and sisters in Monterrey. We are not there to be served or to be pleased. We are there to serve—to be slaves to Christ!

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

EVERY KNEE WILL bow and EVERY TONGUE WILL confess. Let’s pray that through our service, people will come to know Him NOW, and experience fully the JOY of living a life in Him.

Here is my prayer for us—our instruction manual if you will—from Paul’s words 2:12-18:
Dear Lord, help us to:
· 12Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
· 14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you.
· Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.
· 16 Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.
· Be joyful in all circumstances: 17 But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. 18 Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.

Those are challenging words. They are much deeper forms of humility than my experience with the mower. But, I know that God does not teach us such lessons to be demeaning, but rather to remind us that He is God, and we are not. We don’t serve something that our minds can control or define. He is so much greater than the greatest scholars and thinkers can wrap their minds around. He is so much grander than any engineer or scientist could build. He is so much more compassionate than any humanitarian or donor that we could imagine. He is a healer, like no physician we know. He is God. We serve the One, True, Living God. With joy and humility, let us take the news of Him to a world that needs desperately to know Him!

Lord, we love You and ask You right now to keep us humble so you can redirect our paths as needed. We are Yours.