In an earlier blog, I shared three nuggets of truth that God used in my life as I wrote the book, “Intimacy with God, Ourselves and Others.”  In my last blog, I touched on the first truth, which had to do with us hiding from one another.  In this blog, I want to elaborate further on the need for humility in developing intimacy with people.

The best definition for humility is Philippians 2:5-8,

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

First, we discover that humility is an attitude.  In other words, we are not just to act humble, but also to have an attitude of humility.  For Christ, it was a way of thinking and being.  It was who He was.  He did not have to think about being humble; He was humble.  As we trust in Him, we can become humble as He was.

Secondly, even though He had equality with God (He is God), He did not regard it as something to grasp.  He did not feel the need to seize it.  He was not concerned with establishing His equality.  Can we let go of our need to establish our equality to be a blessing to the other person?  We are not saying we are less equal; we are being willing to be concerned with the needs of another over our own.  Christ was more concerned with our need for a Savior than Himself.

As a result, thirdly, He could empty Himself.  This does mean He became non-existent or without needs.  Rather, He could set His needs aside for the sake of the glory of God.  Life was about more than Him.  Can we, sometimes, let our lives be about another?  In the verses just before this passage, we are encouraged not to only seek that which interests us, but to seek the welfare of others.  Thus, we are allowed to be concerned with our lives, while also being concerned for the lives of others.  Being humble means making their needs a priority, as well.

Fourthly, He took the form of a bond-servant.  In His case, it meant becoming one of us.  This is a rather profound statement.  We tend to take pride in ourselves, but for Christ to be like us took humility on His part.  He was setting aside His greatness to be one with us.  Can we be less “great” to serve another?  Jesus washed His disciples’ feet; are we willing to wash one another’s feet?  I do not mean in a literal sense, though I have done that for medically disabled individuals.  The question is, “Are we willing to do what the other person needs in spite of the discomfort it presents to us?”  The goal is service not recognition.

Lastly, humility is obedience to the point of death.  For Christ, it was death on the cross.  In the Old Testament, to hang from a tree was a curse.  Christ bore the curse of our sins on a tree.  The key issue here is our willingness to die to our desires for the fulfillment of another’s need.  Christ was.  He died because of our need for a Savior.  If we look in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see his willingness to let go of His desires for us.  Note, however, it is about another’s need, not want, not desire, not demand, but NEED.

In the book, I touch on the need for humility in giving and receiving grace.  We all need grace.  We need to receive it from God and each other.  To receive it, however, we need to recognize our need for it.  Grace is something we do not deserve.  Rather, we deserve just the opposite.  Yet, God is willing to extend grace, if we can humble ourselves and admit we need it.  Are we willing to humble ourselves to receive and give grace to each other?

God does not need grace from us.  Christ did not need to die on the cross for Himself.  It is the story of grace to a people deserving of judgment.  People may deserve our judgment, can we, however, extend grace.  Not because they deserve it, but because God has extended it to us.