March 17, 2018

The first and most difficult beatitude . . .


Try to imagine the response in people’s hearts as they heard these words from the lips of the man from Galilee:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

Most of them were ‘humble’ people in the sense of wealth, social status, education, and livelihood. They had and did nothing much worth boasting about. Yet in that culture and today, and in any country or world situation, a beggar can be as spiritually proud as any prominent citizen, high priest, cult leader, or me.

Tozer says that the truly humble person does not expect to find virtue in himself or herself. When none is found, that person is not disappointed because of an inner certainty that good deed or goodness that is there, is the result of God’s working — not self-effort.

Perhaps this deep humility must occur, at least a few times, before understanding the freedom of it. Humility releases God’s people from the burden of trying to live up to their own opinion of themselves. To understand why this works, I’m helped by a good definition of humility: it is not thinking less of me, or putting myself down — rather, it is not thinking about myself at all.

Most would add that humility is thinking not of myself but of others, yet that is only partly true. For Christians, the emphasis is on Jesus Christ. Some people can wrap their lives around the needs of others, yet do it to live up to their own opinion of themselves, such as “I am a good person and this is why.” However, with the shift of life and thought from self to Christ, a humble Christian is set free to serve others without even that hindrance. I have nothing to prove nor does not matter what people think, not even what I think. It only matters what Christ thinks and what He says of me, and of what I should be and do.

Another important part of humility is understanding that sinners sin. When I fail God and fail myself, I could spend days, even years, beating myself up for whatever I did or failed to do. However, humility does not expect perfection. Really, who do I think I am that I should never make a mistake, or commit a sin? Sinners sin. In recognizing and accepting the evaluation of Almighty God regarding who and what I am, and in humbly living with my focus on Jesus who forgives and saves, I can also say, “I shall never do otherwise if You leave me to myself; it is You who must hinder my falling and mend what is amiss,” and after that “give himself no further uneasiness about it.” (Brother Lawrence)

^^^^^^^^^^
Jesus, I’m not there yet, but You have given me a small taste of the freedom in humility. I totally understand why You call blessed the ‘poor in spirit’ and say that these are the people who belong in the kingdom of heaven. But I also understand the problem with humility — as soon as I think I have it, I don’t.

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