“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” 1 Peter 5:6

If you enter a lift to go to the penthouse of a skyscraper building, how many of you would first press to go to down to the underground car park? No one! Yet, in God’s way of doing things, it is our job to submit and humble ourselves under Him and His job to lift us up in His time and in His way. In other words, humility is God’s lift for elevation.

 

What is humility? Total dependence on God for everything. Ask anyone today and they will probably tell you that they need God, but how much we need Him, we just don’t know. This is because pride masks our true condition before God, and makes us see ourselves as a victim of our circumstance. Naturally, we like to be in charge of our lives and do not realise that our lives belong to God. If we knew we needed God to breathe, to talk, to wake up each morning, our attitude towards Him would change. Unless we are humble, we cannot bow to Jesus.

 

We all want to be appreciated, honoured and praised, yet we should never forget that our Lord Jesus came to serve not to be served. And God lifted Him up to glory, where He is seated now – in a seat of power.

 

Listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 14:8: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited.  If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will ve to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”  

 

So if you have realised today that you are tired of trying to lift yourself up, it is time to realise that you are a servant of God, and the best position you can be is at His feet.

GOD FIRST

“Let’s take a lesson from David who was ready to be humiliated in his own eyes, so that God could be honoured. Ask yourself: Where does honouring God appear in your list of priorities? Do you thank Him for all that He has done in your life, all the way long? While men look at the outside, God looks at the motives of the heart. Instead of worrying about the opinion of others concerning you, let the motive of your heart each day be to honour God before yourself.”

THE SACRIFICE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

“There is no time to do what is right. We must set our heart to obey the Word of God, all the time. God’s kind of lifestyle calls us to do what is right in the sight of God at all times, even though it is contrary to what we naturally want to do. Choosing to do what is right is a great test to the flesh.

What is the sacrifice of righteousness? Choosing to do God’s will rather than our own. When our flesh says hate, God says love. It takes sacrificial love to love your enemy and to pray for them. These are the weapons of righteousness. This is the sacrifice that Jesus looks at and rewards. Even though that might not be a grand, or outward sacrifice, it is what Jesus values.”

LIFE ANEW

“When we talk of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are talking of the rare opportunity He has given to all believers to experience a new beginning – a situation in which every dead area of our lives receives life anew.

We are dead to our past and alive to our future. Sin’s power over us is broken and we now put on Christ’s new life: we live in Him, move in Him and have our being in Him. Herein lies the significance of resurrection.”