Saturday-Humble on Purpose

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

1 Peter 5:6

Somewhere in our heads there’s a list of things that we do on purpose. It might not be written down anywhere, but it’s burned into our hearts. We know the things that we’re absolutely going to do. No matter what, we’re going to get these things done.

For me, the details of what’s on the list have changed. But there were a few basic reasons that drove what I did. For example, I’m always going to do things that protect and provide for my family.

• Whenever it snowed, I always got up early to shovel the sidewalk and driveway. But since we now live in Florida, we got rid of all our snow shovels.

• When COVID hit, I’d go to as many stores as necessary to find toilet paper. We didn’t hoard it, but I wanted to make sure we didn’t run out.

• I recently had a whole-house generator and a new roof installed. Why? To protect and provide for my family.

Peter is asking his readers about their list. And he’s also asking you and me too. When it comes to responding to God’s sacrifice and love, what are we willing to do. What are we going to do no matter what? And why? Because he first loved us, we are to respond to him and people with love[1].

At the top of the list has got to be humility. We are to allow God to change us. To mold us. To conform us to the image of Jesus[2]. Since Jesus is God and he humbled himself[3], we are to follow his lead and be humble people too.

This brings us to one of those other ideas that can be hard to swallow. To be humble doesn’t mean that you let people walk all over you because you have no power. As a matter of fact, its just the opposite.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:29

Jesus clearly says that he’s humble. Not a word that any business leader or politician is going to use for sure. This means that although he has all the authority and power of God himself, he is going to choose to keep it under control.

Think about it for a minute. Why else would Jesus severely rebuke James and John for wanting to call down fire from heaven to destroy people who refused to welcome him[4]? This is the total opposite of being humble. They had power, but it was out of control.

What makes this call to humility all the more powerful is where the readers of this letter were. They were right smack dab in the middle of persecution central. The Roman government and military were breathing down their necks. And to top it all off, the Jewish religious and political leaders wanted nothing more than to stomp out this so-called Christian movement like a cheap cigarette.

As hard as it is to understand, Peter is urging these first-century believers to honor God through their humility. By allowing God to use the discipline of suffering on them, they were going to shout a powerful message to everyone around them.

So, I’ve got to ask myself the question that’s probably already rattling around in your head. Am I willing to be humble when pain comes? It could be physical pain, or it could be the pain of being rejected. In either case, do I see something beyond the pain itself? Can God make something good out of it.

Something beautiful, something good

All my confusion He understood

All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife

But he made something beautiful of my life[5]

Have we come to the point in our lives where we can believe God’s so wonderful, powerful and good that he can take the mess that we call our lives and do something marvelous? You see, God doesn’t take perfect people and put them on display. Actually, it’s just the opposite. He takes broken failures and remakes them.

It works like this. We must lovingly choose to be humble before God and people. I didn’t say it was going to be easy. For proud and hard-hearted people like me, it takes a spiritual baseball bat upside the head to get my attention.

But know this, there’s nothing God won’t do to get our attention and move us towards loving humility. A genuine humility that’s motivated and powered because he loves us. This is the only power in the universe that can move us to be humble on purpose. To choose humility over everyone and everything else.

Noodling Questions

• Describe the humblest person you know.

• List three things that stop you from being humble.

• How does Jesus’ humility impact your daily life? Explain.

[1] 1 John 4:19

[2] Romans 8:29

[3] Philippians 2:8

[4] Luke 9:54

[5] Something Beautiful, Gloria and Bill Gather,