Where Have You Gone?

6/3/2021

Written By: Kenny Scott

A name came up last week that I hadn’t thought about in a prolonged period of time. My initial thought was “I really miss them being around”. Then my follow up thought was “Why do I miss them?”. The answer had many layers but one foundation. They were unusually kind, intelligent-but not “letters after your name smart” just thoroughly knowledgeable about the most practical things of God, gentle, helpful, not a leader, but someone I wanted to be like as a friend, spouse, and parent, generous but not rich, prayerful, and selfless.

Then it hit me, I really want to be like that! Honestly, I’d like to be as good at just a couple of those characteristics as they were, let alone all of them. Now if they knew I was writing this about them they would be genuinely embarrassed. You see, they’re not famous or even well known. They’re not rich or powerful. They’re not an “influencer” or even verified on Twitter. They’re not a CEO or worshipped for how they look (except appropriately by their spouse I’m sure). And I’d be shocked if they ever desired to be any of those things.

Now, as most of the people reading this are Christians, it is an easy leap to see that the characteristics described in this person are simply the fruit of the Holy Spirit. They resemble Jesus and I would whole-heartedly agree. But why is Jesus’ life and my friend’s reflection so appealing when it is all so different from what the world would have me chase after-fame, fortune, sex appeal, influence, leadership, strength, achievement, etc?

The foundation for this life of beauty is humility! Where has humility gone? It seems that true humility is as rare as a corded phone. With the rise of social media, the beauty of humility has been brushed aside in less than two decades. Humility is now somehow perceived by society as weakness. Replaced with the strength of prideful superiority, “humble bragging” (you know “I’d like to thank God for my latest award as the greatest person in my office/class/sports team-#blessed”), and “virtue signaling” (sorry, it will take more room than I have to unpack this not-so-subtle attempt at prideful self-righteousness).

And God’s people have always been as susceptible to the allure of pride over humility for as long as humans have existed. We want to be the point. We want to be served by God, not servants for God. We want to be celebrated not overlooked. We’d rather sit on the throne than sing praises to the King. Our mission trips can become more trip than mission. Feeding the homeless can become more about an event to post on a resume/application/or social media than the homeless themselves.

Satan, Adam, Joseph, Moses, Sampson, Herod, Saul, David, Solomon, Jonah, Peter, Paul, and dozens of others specifically named in the Bible were all prideful and all “humbled” by God.

Mat 23:12 12: For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
1 Peter 5:5b: All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble."

I don’t know if you’ve ever recognized yourself as being “opposed” by God in life, but as one who has struggled for decades with pride issues, I can tell you it doesn’t end well. To be exact, I’ve never had victory over my “opposer”. I guess that’s where the term “humiliating” comes from. But praise be to God for the grace of humiliation instead of destruction!

Ironically, Jesus is the only person who could have legitimately exalted himself. He is the most famous, the richest, the most beautiful, the most intelligent, the most influential, the greatest leader, the most powerful, and the most successful. But, instead He chose humility.

Philippians 2:6-11: (Jesus) 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death- even death on a cross!

The greatest act of humility in the history of the universe was when Jesus Christ stooped to die on the cross of Calvary for prideful people. And before anyone can get to heaven, they must kneel in humility at the foot of the cross and acknowledge that He is Lord-not us! And this is the rub-if we’re going to “give our lives to Christ” it means trading in who makes the decisions for our lives and how we’re to live them out. What does that look like in reality? It looks like Jesus’ life. It looks like the fruit of the Spirit. It looks like humility.