March 14th 2012

What does it look like to be a humble leader? Don’t just skip this one because you’re so humble you don’t consider yourself a leader, we are all called to be leaders.

Read 1 Peter 5:2-7 and journal your thoughts

Did you catch it? There were actually 6 features of how to be a humble leader. First we need to be a willing shepherd of what God has put us in charge of. So many times it’s easy to look at the “official” church positions, whether it’s pastor, elder, or Sunday School teacher as people who are in charge of things, but what are the things/people in your world what God has put you in charge of? Not only are we called to be shepherd but we are to be willing shepherds. God doesn’t want to force us to follow Him, but that we should want to follow Him from the best situations to the lowest. In our willingness to serve we shouldn’t be greedy but willing to give up anything and everything. In our humility we should be eager to serve God where ever He calls us. In all of this we are to be an example to everyone else, so they know what a leader should look like. Finally, God calls us to not be anxious after all, He is going to supply our needs no matter how big or small they may be.

Whew, that was a lot but nothing really surprising. Most of this stuff is a natural product of what it looks like to be humble. We are called to be willing and eager to shepherd and to be an example while not being greedy or anxious, easy right?

Today pray that God would reveal each one of these things to you in your own lives.

March 13th 2012

What does it look like to be a humble leader? Obviously, to be a humble leader is to be soft spoken until everybody needs you, then you will step up, save the day, and everyone will listen to you from then on, right…?

Read Ecclesiastes 9:14-16 and journal your thoughts

Honestly what were your first thoughts when you read that story? For some of us it is kind of a downer isn’t it? It’s almost like we expect the poor man’s fortunes to turn around, don’t we? Because that’s how the story goes in our culture, the poor man saves the day and becomes a big hero. But that’s not what happens here, because that’s not humility.

Living a life of humility is not the secret to become a big named man/woman of God, but the secret of how to live abundantly here. A truly humble person isn’t humble to gain some sort of advantage, but to embrace the lifestyle of a servant, someone who give themselves away for others. We are not promised fame, or fortune, or even that everything will be easy in our lives if we live humble lives, but we will still live that abundant life. We will still be living that life that God is calling us to live.

Today pray that you would be humble regardless of the benefits

March 12th 2012

Have you ever wondered why God chooses to use this person instead of that person? What sort of person does God choose to use?

Read Numbers 12:3 and journal your thoughts

First of all, as you read this, I hope your translation says “humble” and not “meek”. There is a subtle difference that we’ll talk about later on. Secondly, I hope you understand that God doesn’t only choose to use the humble, He’s God, He can choose to use whoever he wants (See Samson). While God can choose to use anyone He wants there is something about Moses that was different, that He chooses him to lead the Hebrews out of slavery.

What made Moses so different was his humility. For Moses, it’s not that he was humble that made him different, what made him different is that humility was his core characteristic. It’s simply who he was. To really grasp how humble Moses was, we need to look at the context of this statement. Moses isn’t just being humble while he’s in exile, but we are in the book of Numbers. He’s led the Hebrews out of Egypt, he is currently leading them. Not only that, but he’s been speaking to God face to face (Exodus 33:11). That is some bragging rights, right there, but still Moses is humble. Humble enough to be called “more humble than anyone on the face of the earth.”

Today pray that God would help you not only to be humble, but that humility would be a natural part of your life

March 11th 2012

Ever wonder how far should we humble ourselves before others?

Read Matthew 8:5-13 and journal your thoughts

So this story is actually a pretty crazy, here we have a Roman Centurion coming and asking Jesus to heal his servant. First we need to understand that this Centurion is a man coming from a position of power, who was in charge of 100 men. Obviously the Romans were the ones who held the power over the Jews, and thus Jesus. Yet he comes to Jesus asking for help. In this time and culture, this is an incredible act of humility. Almost like an owner kneeling before their servant.

Second, notice who the Centurion is asking Jesus to heal, his servant. Why? It’s not like servants in those days had a special relationship with the ones they worked for. Usually if something like this would have happened the master would send the servant to an infirmary or to a relative’s house, who usually would not have cared for the sick one, or they would not have been able to take care of them. But this Centurion has home, he is serving his servant. This is the context of this Centurion humbling himself before Jesus. This is humility.

Today pray that God would make you aware of those moments when you should humble yourselves to serve someone else.

March 10th 2012

What should our humility look like when we live it out?

Read John 1:19-28 and journal your thoughts

Have you ever been in a position when you could have taken all the credit for something? Did you? For so many of us throughout our lives we are faced with these sort of situations, moments when we have done something big, to give in to our pride. In today’s verses John was probably faced with this same temptation, he could have said, “Yeah I’m Elijah!” or “A prophet? You know it” or “Yes I am your Messiah, now bow down before me! (Cue lightening). Instead John simply keeps denying all their claims and points to Jesus.

John recognizes that he’s not the one doing everything. Yes, he’s making good choices and that deserves credit, but John is acknowledging that something bigger is going on here. Everything that is happening is not by his own hand, because he is working in concert with what God is already doing around him. In the same way, we need to recognize and acknowledge the ways that we are working in concert with God. When we take all the credit for the things that God is doing, when we are proud then God begins to have issues with us (James 4:6).

Today pray that God would help you remain humble in those moments when your pride is the strongest.

BONUS THOUGHT: For John, the reason why he does the things he is doing is because of Jesus and what Jesus is about to do. John was passionate about what Jesus was about to do, and his life was a reflection of that passion. For us, our lives need to point to Jesus in that our lives reflect the very same love and grace he has shown us.

March 9th 2012

How did Jesus teach us to be humble?

Read Philippians 2:3-8 and journal your thoughts

Here Paul begins by talking about how Jesus had the same form/nature as God, and had equality with God and still, being our example, humbled himself to the point of being a servant. Why does Jesus humble himself to be a servant? Seriously, he could have been a king, a ruler, a rich man, but he chooses to become a servant. Why?

The simple truth is that God became a servant because humility is the very nature of God. Jesus is not just making a point, but he is showing us who he is and what God is like. Jesus is showing us what it looks like to live out the Kingdom of God here on earth and as part of that lifestyle we are called to embrace a lifestyle of humility, to live a life of service just like Jesus did.

Today pray that God would show you the areas of your life that you could begin to serve others in.

March 8th 2012

As we wrap up our week of wisdom, we have to ask ourselves where our wisdom comes from. Of course God, right? We just spent a week talking about that, but what drives us to follow what God is telling us to do?

Read Proverbs 11:2 and journal your thoughts

Our wisdom simply comes from our humility. Duh, right? I mean this is a basic church answer; it is when we humble ourselves before God that we become wise. But this is where the difference between wisdom and knowledge comes into play. Wisdom comes when we live out humility. When we humble ourselves before God and acknowledge that we don’t know it all, and then actually live out the things He tells us to do.

Not only are we humbling ourselves before God, but also each other. Whenever you are in a conversation, are you the person who is always talking or do you take the time to really listen to others? Sometimes God is trying to tell us something through the wisdom of other people. There is a rabbinic paraphrase that goes along with today’s verse that may shed help us understand what is being said here; "Lowly souls become full of wisdom as the low place becomes full of water." When we humble ourselves and begin to listen to others we begin to see everyone as someone God may be using to speak to us.

Today pray that you would have the wisdom to know when to simply listen to God and to what God is trying to tell you through others.