17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
There are several life lessons that we must learn, several of which involve being humbled or humility. Conventional wisdom says these are lessons learned the hard way. If you take the time, there are several things which you have learned the hard way. All of which, I would guess, involve some sort of personal or public humiliation (same root word as humility). So how do we avoid learning things the hard way?
One way is to not take risks. Don't stick your neck out and you won't get hurt. Another option is always put on the "ashes and sack-cloth" of mourning, making people believe that you are destitute, when really you are not. Yet another option is false humility: "Really, saving three children and two family dogs from the fiery building was no big deal. I do it all the time."
I don't think these are the proper perspectives to bring to the idea of Biblical humility. Christ calls us not to be masters, but servants of one another. Humility is not something which we attain, it is a state of being. In the scripture this morning, Christ says that it is not about you, your things, your wealth, or saving yourself. Instead, the life that is built for eternity is one that is lived in service to others.
Prayer: God, help me to lay down my pride and selfish ambition, for the sake of your kingdom and my salvation. Amen.
G. Thomas Martin
