Colossians 3:12-14 NIV
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Matthew 5:5, “blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth” (NIV). Proverbs 18:12, “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty; And before honor goeth humility” (ASV). What is humility? Jesus taught us what humility looks like in the eyes of God. Philippians 2:6-8 reminded us “Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be possessed by force. On the contrary, he emptied himself, in that he took the form of a slave by becoming like human beings are. And when he appeared as a human being, he humbled himself still more by becoming obedient even to death —death on a stake as a criminal! (CJB)”. If you have read previous devotionals I have written, you will hear me often say that I love how Jesus never asks us to do anything that he himself has not modeled for us as we are striving to walk in his legacy as our savior and Lord.
I don’t know for you, but humility does not come naturally for me. Especially when I am being lied to or treated poorly or when others undermine my value as a human being. My initial reaction is to speak up and fight or defend my integrity or give silent treatment. Learning how Jesus handled opposition during his ministry, He challenges me as a Haitian American immigrant and black woman in a society that is not always welcoming, that my citizenship is not on this earth (Philippians 3:20). Like Jesus, when I surrendered to God as my King through Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior, my identity is no longer defined by my earthly culture or by society’s views because “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (Galatians 2:20-21)” Annaika has died! I no longer exist but my body is surrendered to be used as a vessel for Christ. I have learned many years ago just knowing the scriptures does not equal righteousness but allowing the Words of God to infuse life (Spirit) in my flesh to transform me to his likeness (John 6:63, Romans 8:27). Jesus called the meek blessed (Matthew 5:5). Through his ministry, he demonstrated what meekness (Humility, gentleness, tame, etc.) looks like. Not only did they kill him out of jealousy (Matthew 27:18), his enemies created ways to ridicule the son of God. “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly (2 Peter 2: 23). Humility to me is the ability to not always have the first or the last word in every circumstance or situation but to remember who our enemy is (Satan) and what our purpose on this earth is. Our purpose is to win the approval of God not human beings because when we focus on fighting the earthly accusations that are waging against our soul, we will find ourselves easily frustrated, judgmental, critical, dismissive, prideful, arrogant toward people which are in direct conflict with humility. Imitating Jesus is not easy. Nonetheless, we may not reach the fullness of humility until we see our maker and creator of heaven and earth, but we must strive every day, until we see our Lord to clothe ourselves with humility. What a day it will be when we hear our master, lord and savior say, “well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). Let us strive to overcome the world that tell us humility is a weakness so that Jesus will count us as, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22: 14).
