Re:Verse passage – Philippians 2:1-4 (day five)
“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;”
It is a tension we must navigate carefully and cautiously- the desire to be humble and the desire to grow and mature in Christ. Paul makes the proposition that we can hold onto both. But as John Stott so wisely points out, “At every stage of our Christian development and at every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend”.
I had a professor who joked, that if you ever wanted to write a book entitled “Humility, and How I Achieved It”, you’ve probably missed the point. Humility does take personal discipline and attention (the way we think about the Lord, priority of loving others, and willingness to be a servant). It is work for sure, which ushers in the danger of pride. But, as Paul reminds, humility can come, but only from the Spirit. So the prayer is NOT, “help me be humble”. It is “make me more like Jesus”. Humility is not thinking less of yourself (desire for growth and maturity in Christian faith), it is thinking of yourself less (regard one another as more important).
