Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage.
Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death – even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:3-11 HCSB
There are many scriptures, like this one, that are so powerful that they require little or no explanation. So, maybe you will want to read it again.
In 1980 Mac Davis wrote a song, It’s Hard to be Humble. The lyrics say, “Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way”. Now some of the lyrics seem a bit outrageous and we can listen to this song and find it humorous, but there is a sad reality here. Many of us, myself included, put our needs above the needs of others. We become wrapped up in our own problems and we forget that there are others in much worse shape then we are. We forget that others are suffering much more than we are. Quite simply, we put ourselves first.
Our scripture tells us to do nothing out of rivalry or conceit. How often do we do something to show others that we can do it better than they can? How often do we do something strictly for the pat on the back and the recognition? And how often do we do something because we think that no one else can do it the right way? When we live this way and think this way, it leads to us thinking that we are more important than we are. I hate to bust your bubble, but we are just a tiny speck on this world. We are here for a moment and then we will be taken away. God controls whether we grace this planet with our presence for an hour or 100 years. In all honesty, we really have nothing to be conceited about.
God made us in His image and we were made to imitate Christ. This is hard to do because we have to go against human nature. But I think the lesson to be learned is that God has a wonderful reward for us when we cross the finish line, but we have to work for it. Christ was fully God and fully man. We know from scripture that Jesus did not want to die on the cross, but was willing to do what God had sent Him to do (Luke 22:42). He could have simply called for a legion of angels to remove him from that situation, but He put our needs above His own. He counted a bunch of low life sinners needs to be more important that his desire to not have to suffer this humiliation and agony. He humbled himself becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross.
Now Mac Davis may have written his song in jest, but by our very nature the title is true. It is hard for us to be humble. We all like to think that our ideas and ways of doing things are best. We all want people to do things our way in our timing. We really have a hard time being humble. But praise God, Jesus had no trouble being humble. He was homeless, drifting from one town to another to spread God’s love until He was crucified. He didn’t have a mansion down here. He didn’t sit on a throne down here. He took on the form of a lowly servant. He washed the feet of His disciples. He healed the sick. He ate with the sinners. He never considered Himself above anyone and He was Jesus Christ. So tell me again why we think we are so great and our every desire is so important?
The sad truth of the matter is that if we can’t humble ourselves before others we can’t truly humble ourselves before Christ. Our greatest commandment is that we love Christ with all our hearts, all our souls and all our minds (Matthew 22:37). We must empty ourselves of ourselves before we can do this. Think about that one for a minute. The second greatest commandment is that we love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:38). Now we know that we all try to do good by ourselves. Maybe our idea of good gets a bit skewed at times, but we try to do good by ourselves. But what if everyone truly loved their neighbor as they loved themselves? What a wonderful world we would live in. It would be heaven on earth.
Our scripture passage tells us that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So, you can do it down here, which will be good practice for heaven. Or you can do it at the throne of judgment, but I want you to know that it will be too late then. You will do it, but it won’t help.
Humble yourself today. If you want to have true joy, my pastor says you must do it this way. Put Jesus first, others second, and yourself last. Let’s work hard at being humble.
Have a great day!