105 - A Humble Heart

Matthew 18:1-4 NASB

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Phillipians 2:5-8 NASB

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. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

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Jesus Christ gave all that we might have all. With a humble heart He emptied Himself for our sake, lived among us, and died upon the cross for the joy that was set before Him. That joy was the salvation of our souls, raising us to a new position and a new and restored identity reconciled back to God. We have entered that joy having been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms, with a new holy and righteous position as His saints and beloved children.

Having been set free from the old and given all that is new, not out of anything we have done but by His grace, we take on a new perspective wholly set apart from what we once held to in this world. It raises our hearts and minds above a world where self and confidence in the flesh is the focus.

Having all we need for life and godliness through Christ we gain a new frame of mind releasing ourselves from a world that is fading and will pass away into the security of an eternal existence. In this security we let go and our minds open to the attitude of Christ, a humility that sets us free from self and opens us up to all God has prepared for us and who He has made us to be.

In this new frame of mind worldly concepts such as pride and arrogance lose their meaning. We no longer have the need to compare ourselves with others, to lift ourselves above others. To feel more highly of ourselves than we ought or less of ourselves than we should. We have been raised to a new life, filling us and giving us new meaning and purpose. We have been satisfied, no longer having the need for this world to provide for us what it was never meant or able to provide.

A humble heart acknowledges a reality that what we have been given from the Lord far surpasses what we have held onto in this world. Within this understanding we choose to relinquish what is temporal for what is eternal, for a calling and a purpose higher than ourselves. The pride of a life without God holds no lasting treasure for this life or the life to come. We died to this world that we might live anew. Jesus said, “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Possessing a humble heart is not really about losing; it truly is about gaining all, our true spiritual self. Who we were always meant to be, created to be, and called by God to be. We humble ourselves under His mighty hand, exchanging the illusion of this world’s pride for an unshakable eternal reality.  God’s reality proclaims as David said, “and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” This reality far surpasses all we could ever have asked, imagined or hoped for.