Humility
by Mihran Kulhanjian
O My dear Friends,
Most people have a wrong idea of what humility means in the Bible. In the fleshly world, humility is associated with weakness, passivity and a non-initiator or somebody who does not take charge or lacks leadership ability. But in scripture, humility is obedience to God. It is a glorious thing to be humble, for the humble shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). Not this earth will they inherit but the next. Jesus was meek and lowly. Humility is strength, it is knowing your weakness [your inability to be good and your inability to save yourself] and submitting to God in all things. Humility is yielding to God. Leaning on Him and trusting Him with your life. God is the Creator of all. Why would you not submit to Him? Why would you not trust Him with your life? I do. Upon death I trust Him, proclaiming His Word. "I shall not die, but live and proclaim the works of the Lord" (Isaiah 40:8). And upon death, I shall proclaim the works of the Lord from my lips.
How humble was Moses to God?
(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.) (Numbers 12:3).
Are we capable of humbling ourselves to the Lord as Moses? Yes, we are capable of this. We can be a humble as we want to be.
A Christian humbles himself to God and relies on God for all things. God in number one in my life. Is He number one in yours? Humility is the opposite of pride. Did you do it your way or did you do it God's way? Pride tells you to do it your way. It is the wrong way; and pride is the downfall of all who have entered through the gates of hell and into the lake of fire. There was a beautiful angel by the name of Lucifer, whom God created. Lucifer, because of his pride, wanted the things God had. He wanted to be like God. It was his pride. So he became an adversary of God. We known him now as Satan or the Devil, the great deceiver, the king of liars. God gave us, as well as the angels, free-will to choose Him and love Him. But Lucifer's pride took hold and he used his free-will to lie, kill and destroy. Lucifer could not battle God in the heavens so he sought to take control of God's creation, man. The tempter went after the weaker one [Eve} first. Now Lucifer became Satan and Satan wants you to have the pride of life and not the humility to know and worship and enjoy God.
Humility is being obedient to God. Trusting Him, submitting to Him and surrendering all to Him as our God, as our Father [to Christians] and to the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, being God incarnate [if you have seen the Son you seen the Father]. This means relying on Him in so called good times and bad times and not wavering our trust, our faith, and our belief in Him. Jesus humbled Himself in complete obedience to the Father. Jesus did His Fathers will by leaving the spiritual realm of heaven., becoming a man, becoming a poor outcast and becoming a condemned criminal by false accusations and trumped up charges. He was innocent, yet He was scourged and then crucified. He was sentenced to death and cruelly murdered on the cross. It was a humiliating death of a completely innocent man, a holy, God loving, and God obeying man; and Jesus did this to save sinners; "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" [Romans 3:23]. Jesus was the Lamb of God, sacrificed for us; and all you have to do is receive Him, follow Him to receive the gift of life and all the promises He offers. He took the punishment for all sinners. But all sinners will not be saved. It was the great exchange. He exchanged His life so that we might have life.
Becoming a Christian means becoming humble. Removing selfish desires for selfless desires. Humility in Christ is strength and power not weakness. "You can do all things in the one [Christ] who empowers you within" (Philippians 4:13). Let's look at it this way: pride is a grave sin because pride is all about glorifying self. Self is more important. That's pride. Self is number one not God. That's pride. Self doesn't need God. That's pride. Self is conceit, self-centeredness and self-reliance. That's pride. Self-centered people want to glorify themselves. Pride says "Glorify me." A self-made man or woman is glorified and honored by the world. Yet, a self-made person is not gloried by God's standard. A professing self-made person is a godless person, puffed up and built up with conceit. While money and power are perceived to be the hallmark of success in this world, in God's realm the humble are the exalted. The self-conceited say "look at me, I'm something, I am somebody important." One can be poor or rich. There is no financial number on pride and selfishness. Pride is a weakness that leads to failure every time. A prideful person will sometimes dig the hole so deep, climbing out of it will often be impossible.
The prideful such as Adolph Hitler, Karl Marx, Lenin, Joseph Stalin, dictators and others in communist China, Vietnam and North Korea have created the suffering of millions because they were full of pride and lacked all humility for God. They wanted it all for themselves. They were all liars and murderers like their father Satan. They all turned against God because they wanted to be God. They all wanted to be glorified as living god's with power to take all that they wanted, including the lives of millions by murder. Do you think any of these prideful murders are in Heaven?
Humility is a virtue because we rely on God and glorify Him when we obey and follow Him. Jesus said we must be last to be first. Do you understand what this means? The humble move up to the front of the line. As Jesus did, we come to serve not to be served. We come to help, not help ourselves. The humble are exalted because they put themselves last and God and others first. A good leader is a humble leader because he places his concern on the well being of his underlings, his subordinates; they are first and the leader is second.
In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14), Jesus shows us who is exalted and who is prideful:
Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The Pharisee boasted to God showing his works: "Look at me, God" he is saying "I'm a good boy" not like other people or that one over there. The Pharisee was full of pride and self-conceit; he certainly was not humble. But the tax collector said "God, be merciful to me a sinner." And what did Jesus say about the tax collector:
"I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).
Jesus said: "But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Matthew 23:11-12). To be first we must be last and to be the master we must first be the slave. Do you understand what this means? If you are to go high you must be low and if you are high you will be lowered. A humble person sees who he is. He is a sinner. A humble person relies on God because he acknowledges he can do nothing without God. "I can do all things through the One who empowers me within" (Philippians 4:13).
Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:4).