Humble Yourself

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

How do we do this? Do we wash the disciples feet? Jesus did, but said it was to tell us to deny ourselves and serve one another.

Wash yourselves. James says to Purify your inner life. The powerful Moses was a “quietly humble man,” the most humble man. It was not about him.

Paul tells us In 1 Corinthians, but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. It is our hearts God wants, humble and contrite in spirit.

Do not let your adorning be external,” Peter wrote, “but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious” (1 Peter 3:3a, 4).

Gentleness of spirit is beautiful to the Lord. The world in not gentle. I chose it for my word of the year in 2016, but had trouble humbling myself to be gentle or kind my 2015 word of the year.

But God humbled himself and became the very nature of a servant

 He became obedient to death- even on a cross (Philippians 2:7-8).

God is talking about our emptying ourselves of pride and prominence. Humility is the lowly place we are to go as we seek after God to become more like Him. We certainly have Scripture to tell us what that looks like. This Lenten Season as we walk toward the cross find a heart-place that is Spirit inspired. How about-

[ Suffering for Doing Good ] Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing. Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, Here’s what you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful; Snub evil and cultivate good; run after peace for all you’re worth. God looks on all this with approval, listening and responding well to what he’s asked; But he turns his back on those who do evil things. (1 Peter 3:8-12 The Message