Humility

Humility

Philippians 2:1-11

            If we are faithfully walking the Christian way, what we believe today will be different from what we believe a year—or five, or ten years—from now.  I don’t mean the basics will change.  My church’s confession of faith states: “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and I accept him as my Lord and Savior.”  That has been the essence of Christian belief from the beginning, and must continue to be.

            What should change is our understanding of the application of that belief.  As our experience and knowledge of Jesus Christ grows, we will understand more deeply how we should apply his teachings to our lives.  Part of this change will happen through prayer.  Conversation with God brings us into ever closer contact with God, and helps us understand God’s will more completely.  As someone far wiser than I has said, prayer doesn’t change God, prayer changes us.

            Part of the change will come from scripture.  The more broadly we read in God’s Word, the more completely we will understand the fullness of God’s interaction with humankind.  The more deeply we read (that is, the more often we study the same passages) the more insights we will have into the meaning of God’s Word in our lives.

            It’s that depth of understanding that is on my mind today.  Many years ago my aunt encouraged me to begin journaling.  I will always be grateful for her guidance in this matter.  Because of her influence I make it a daily habit to read a portion of scripture and record my thoughts about what I read.  I admit that many times my thinking goes far afield.  I find that some of my most interesting and rewarding learning happens when I’m off on a tangent.  Rabbit holes, as Alice discovered, make excellent educational environments.

            For the past few weeks I’ve been re-reading Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  Every time I return to his letters I find it takes longer to get through them than before.  I think this is good.

            A few days ago I began looking at today’s reading.  I usually find myself concentrating on the second half of the passage, the part where Paul encourages his readers to “Have this mind among yourselves, which is also in Christ Jesus.”  He goes on to describe how Jesus Christ put aside his heavenly privileges to die on the cross, and was then exalted by God and given the “name above all other names.”  I’m sure you know these verses as well as I do.

            I always treated the first half of this passage as sort of an introduction to the main idea, a way to get the reader’s attention before Paul launched into the more important thought he wanted to communicate.  This time it was the early verses that intrigued me.

            In the first five verses he uses the word mind three times.  The word love appears twice.  While the word humility appears only once, careful inspection makes it clear that humility is the point Paul wants to get across.  He makes it clear that we are to be humble, but not merely for humility’s sake.  We are to be humble as a result of our love for each other and for God—and humility is a condition of the mind just as much as—if not more than—a condition of the heart.

            And why are we to cultivate a spirit of humility?  Because that’s what Jesus Christ did.  He humbled himself by becoming human and submitting to the most ignominious death anyone at the time could imagine.  And why did he do that?  Out of love for humankind.  God loved us so much that Jesus was sent to show us how to live, and to die to reconcile us to God.

            I think Paul’s point is this:  If Jesus Christ loved enough to humble himself that much, how can I do any less?  Having the mind of Christ begins with me loving others enough to place their interests and well-being above my own.  That’s the mind I must cultivate.