The Humility of Christ
Jesus Christ demonstrated many great attributes. One of His many beautiful characteristics was humility. Jesus Christ humbled Himself before His Father and the great holy law. He also humbled Himself before His encounter in the wilderness with Satan by fasting for forty days and nights. He knew of the devil’s powerful schemes and temptations, so He knew He had to be ready. He became ready by refusing food and drink during this forty day fast. In this manner He humbled Himself, but in this humility He was strengthened and sharpened to refute any temptation.
His great examples of humility did not stop there. Jesus carried a humble heart to the cross. His blood ran down a battered and bruised body. All of this was for a sinful world that is not worthy of His amazing grace. The fascination is it didn’t have to be this way. He told Peter in the garden, as an armory encircled Him, that He could ask for a legion of angels to annihilate His enemies, but He did not. Rather, He humbled Himself to the Holy Scriptures and allowed Himself to be taken.
Jesus Christ epitomized all great things and humility was one of them. In Matthew 5:48 He asks us to be perfect. We know Christ was perfect, and part of His perfection was humility. So I ask, my dear readers, how can we humbly reflect Christ in our lives? Matthew 11:28-30 is a good place to start. Let’s take a read from the KJV: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” What message is our Savior conveying to us in this example? Our labors beat or burden us down, and we need rest from them. Why is this the case? In verse 29 Christ invites us to learn of Him and His ways. When we do this and when we apply His ways to our lives and take on His character we find rest for our souls. Why? Jesus Christ also tells us here that He is humble and lowly in heart. He did not let His ego get in the way of expressing the right behavior or thinking the right thoughts. Human beings, on the other hand, sometimes become hurt and flustered by the slightest things. We think we deserve this and that and people should treat us just the way we like. Some people think they are just entitled to certain things, and become so worn down emotionally when they don’t receive them. Jesus Christ was not occupied with such drivel. His focus was on a humble heart, and on pleasing His Father. In this fashion, Christ was selfless. He did not walk around with a sense of entitlement, so He wasn’t worried about His feelings getting hurt. And so because of this His burden was light in this area.
Therefore, to humbly reflect Christ one must be selfless. Be Christlike. Live your life to please the Father, and let the ego trips fall by the wayside. When we do this there is no longer hurt emotions over the meaningless chatter of this world. For our thoughts need to be on the spiritual and the heavenly and not on the worldly passions that drag us down and hinder our spiritual growth.