Re:Verse reading–Philippians 2:1-11 (day six)
“…he did not count equality with God and thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. -Paul, Philippians 2:7
Jesus emptied himself. There is nothing passive in Christ’s humility. He did not allow the incarnation, He willed it. Jesus said, “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” (John 10:17) This is the kind of humility that Paul declares is ours in Jesus, an active humility. A kind of humility that takes the first move; it doesn’t wait to be asked, or need to be noticed by men to do what is required.
Remember when Jesus told His disciples, “If you really want to be great you must become a servant to all.” Nope, there is nothing passive about that, and I need a lot more of that kind of humility! How about you?
Great topic on humility. Jesus’ teaching of His disciples is for us as well, “if you want to be great you must become a servant to all.” His teaching of His disciples reminded me of my own parents who taught me to serve as a family maid/servant and a worker for my Dad’s business. My Dad trained me to become a humble worker and prepared me to become a humble supervisor and to understand how it is like when I had to work for others. He prepared me to deal with life setbacks and challenges and for maintaining strengths in all life situations. They believed that God gave but could take away and that God gave and I had to learn to share and to give back to others. My parents taught me humility and how to love others who had to work to bring food to the table to feed their families. My parents put me in the shoes of a servant early on and made me work alongside with other maids/servants of the family and workers of my Dad’s business, follow the same duration of work hours, guidelines and processes, the same performance rewards and performance disciplines under the authority of my parents. My parents were Godly people. They were not Christians but believed in God. They used the reward and punishment system to shape the right type of behaviors and attitudes of family maids and workers! Since childhood, they expected me to treat others with love, compassion and with dignity and to be humble. They cared for those who were less fortunate in the community and society. They were humble and they cared by giving so maids and workers could have what I had as daughter of their bosses.
Humility is a great attribute for all. Many have talked about humility these days. Humility is an attractive trait for leaders and non-leaders alike. Humble leaders or “down-to-earth” leaders earned respect, loyalty and love from all. These humble leaders tend to be approachable, trustworthy, honest, caring and concerns for others, and truly thankful to those who contributed to their success.
I was raised to value and strive for humility, loyalty, mercy and forgiveness. Humility is a Christian value because Jesus was humble! I am thankful for being taught this value early on in my childhood.
I pray that we all are naturally humble as humility should comes as naturally to us as Christians. The type of humility we should strive for is Jesus’ humility. He was humble, submitted and obedient to God to the point of death on the cross.
Can you find a lot of those who have Jesus’ type of humility? I am thankful for those with natural tendency for humility and I will always honor those. Peace and joy will come to us for sure when humility is a natural tendency. I look for those to surround myself with.
God’s humility versus Satan’s humility! God’s humility reveals obedience. Satan’s humility reveals manipulation of others! Our choice!!
Humility in leadership! May I share with you, blog readers how I demonstrated this type of competency? Thank you.
How I Did: Transforming My Organization
PHUONG CALLAWAY, PHD, CA | Jun 14, 2014
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140614202857-191099839-how-i-did-transforming-my-organization