Humility
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[June 16, 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
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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.
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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
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