Dec.13 - Christ’s Humility
Contributed by
Tobias Basuki, senior computer science major from Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday December 12
Scripture
Philippians 2 : 3 – 11
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father.”
|
Devotion
Many times have I heard about this topic of humility, but unconsciously I was inoculated and took it for granted and even considered all the teaching and stories as mere clichés. But I did not really see that knowing and understanding is very different.
A very good friend of mine had an attitude that opened my mind and lead me to see that there is more to it. He was once even fired for wrong reasons, but humbly accepts false accusations instead of fighting it. He experienced humiliation but remained humble and I saw a glimpse of a Christ like humility through him something much smaller compared to Christ’s action but very real to me.
Humility is not only the pleasant and fine things that the church teaches, and grandmothers exhort their grandchildren. It has a dark side; pain, anger, humiliation. I never thought of humility and humiliation as something that would go together although they sounded very similar. I always had good impressions in my imagination when hearing about humility and bad impressions hearing about humiliation. I realized humbleness is more than not being arrogant when in prosperity or success but the ability to let go injustices and embrace humiliation during adversity. Humility in triumph and victory is much easier than humility in the disgrace and shame due to injustices.
As Christmas is getting nearer I hope that many of us will experience and comprehend even more what Jesus had done for us. It was more than humility Jesus had to go through as God to become human, He had to be humiliated to take our sins away. What a wonderful amazing grace, something so great but I know so little of. A humility that made Him worthy to be our King, as Lao Tzi an ancient Chinese philosopher once said: “The Sea is Lord of hundred rivers and they all have to flow into it because it is at a low place.”
|
