It is my privilege each week to meet intentionally with the pastoral and support staff of NorthLife Church. We are presently taking a leadership course entitled “Equipping a New Generation of Leaders.” As we are now focusing on the character of a leader, the subject of humility became a topic of interaction. What humility is? What humility is not? Humility is not being down on oneself. Humility is not humiliation. Humility is recognizing that everything we have and everything we are is the result of God’s grace. A life motto of the Apostle Paul was “by the grace of God I am what I am.”
This is the Christmas Season when we recall that Jesus left his heavenly home and came to earth.
The greatest example of humility is the Lord Himself. “Though he was God, he did not think equality with God as something to cling to. 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, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names.” Philippians 2:6-9. This is the Christmas Season when we recall that Jesus left his heavenly home and came to earth. He came really, to die, that we might live spiritually and eternally. He came down that He might lift us up.
Author Tim Keller wrote, “The thing we would remember from meeting a truly Gospel-humble person is how much they seemed to be totally interested in us. Because the essence of Gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less!” Like the song says, “When He was on the Cross, we were on His mind.” What humility! Jesus loves you and has expressed that love by dying on a cross in payment for your sins. We are to humble ourselves by receiving the gift of salvation because He humbled himself to be our Savior. To celebrate Christmas to be appreciate the “coming down” of the Christ of Christmas. Let us enter this happy season, with humility.