Jesus’ disciples asked him an interesting question one day.
“Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Matthew 18:1
I wonder what kind of answers they were expecting. Maybe they were all hoping that He would choose them. After all, they walked with Him and talked with Him and were able to ask Him questions like this. They were His “inner circle.” I am sure His answer shocked them.
And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:2
Humility can be hard to find these days. In an age of self promotion, self importance, self centeredness and general selfishness, humility is sadly lacking. Humility must be intentional in our lives. It doesn’t come natural to most of us. We live in a world where we are told we must assert ourselves, brand ourselves, make ourselves great, rise to the top. We raise our children to be great-top of the class, best in 1st grade field day , most accomplished in piano or art or tennis. I did it too. After all, we don’t want to be sloths lying around doing nothing, or raise lazy children who have nothing to aspire to in life.
We have things to do, places to go, people to see. Many of us have a sense of calling that God has put in our hearts of what we must do or become. So how do we balance it all? Humility is the key. We must come to Jesus every day and humble ourselves in prayer, acknowledging that we need Him, we need His power working in and through our lives to do that which He has called us to do.
I think the song I learned as a child sums it up so well.
“Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, they are weak, but He is strong.”
May we all live and walk in humility all the days of our lives, looking to Jesus with childlike faith and knowing that our strength comes from Him, and all the glory for any accomplishments we may have belong to Him and Him alone.
Soon true!
Very well said mam!
Good read I’m sending this to my kids to read it too!
Thanks for this biblically humbling reminder Deborah. You and your husband have intentionally modelled it, with the help of God’s grace, before others.
Amen!
Thank you for this entry. It is so full of insight and heart revelation. Just as I read this, I had a realization … Might favoritism be a breeding ground for pride? For instance, can pitting our children against one another be setting them up for unhealthy pride, and alternately, insecurity? It reminds me of 2 Corinthians 10:12 that states that we can fall into the trap of commending ourselves by “…measure(ing) themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.”