Being Humble Overcomes Humiliation

There is a saying that has been around for a while. It says, “We climb to glory on the down escalator.” As we continue the journey into the second week of the Advent study called “Down to Earth”, we have been considering what humility is and what it means to us during this time of a global health crisis, domestic social and political conflict, and deep economic hardships.

You may say, “Why deal with humility at this time, haven’t we already been humbled enough?” I do know that we all have been forced to deal with many fundamental changes to our life that have been very uncomfortable and tedious, and those changes have forced us to do things that we thought we would never have to do. It could be said that we have been humbled by the many waves of adversity that have swept over us in 2020. May God have mercy on us and deliver us from this present set of circumstances.
However, being humble, as I have often said, is an action phrase. It is not something you think about and then go about your business and be made better just by meditating on it.

You have to be intentional about being humble. It is an act of your will. To have humbling experiences due to circumstances beyond our control and become somewhat of a victim of those circumstances as we travel on the road trip of our lives is more akin to being discouraged and depressed because of them, not proactively becoming humble.

On the other hand, to be humble in the truest sense of the word is to choose to exhibit behavior that diminishes our own wants and desires in favor of lifting up other people’s needs and doing so for their benefit alone, and not seeking a reward for ourselves in the process.

In this week’s Bible reading from Philippians 2:5-8, Paul the apostle of Jesus wrote to the people of the city of Philippi, who were believers in Jesus and the everlasting love of God, urging them to have the mindset of Christ Jesus. Paul was led to do so because of circumstances surrounding them and something that happened within that community of believers.

Please read all four chapters of Philippians (They are short.) and become familiar with the background circumstances of the life of that church. Like the Philippians, our lives are affected in many ways due to things we do not have control over and things that we do! Yet, we can actively choose to respond to all of those things with humbleness of heart and mind, so that God’s love outshines us.