Humility

[July 14, 2010]   --"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."-Matthew 18:1-3

Humility.  There is no reward for being humble.  I mean, as soon as you say to someone, "I am humble," you, by definition, are no longer humble.  Our society certainly doesn't reward humility.  Ours is a culture that rewards those who relentlessly self promote.  We tend to think that, unless we are receive recognition in our work, our home, our community, then we are somehow being overlooked.  Almost all of us think we are merely an undiscovered genius of some sort or another.  To fight this, it has become increasingly common for us to trumpet our own greatness, to seek out followers and to make sure that everyone knows how great we are.  Certainly the disciples shared this predilection with us.  They wanted everyone to know they were great; they were Jesus' insiders, the best of the best.  But this was not enough.  Who amongst them would be named the best?  That was the big question, and certainly a question many of us, in their position, would have asked.

But Jesus is not interested in the personal pursuit of glory.  He is interested in humility.  He understood that greatness, true greatness in this world and in the work of discipleship, can only be achieved through humility.  The humble don't have to trumpet their greatness.  They don't care who gets credit for successes and they are always willing to take blame for failures.  The humble show up early and leave late and care not if anyone notices.  The humble serve Jesus because they love him, not because they want anything from him.  Humility is central to our lives as Christians because it is humility that allows us to acknowledge that we need Jesus, and humility that allows us to make his work our work, rather than vice-versa.  If you want to be great, Jesus says, be humble.

Prayer:  Help me, O Lord, to be a humble disciple.  Please help me to submit my needs to yours.  I need your help to do this. I pray in Jesus' name.  Amen