Embracing humility
Growing up, I often heard variations of the following idea: "The more you know, the more you realize you don't know." I have found this true in many areas, especially in relationships. For example, I met my wife, Janae, just before I graduated from Sonoma State University and then moved 500 miles away. We became great friends in the years to come, spending hours upon hours racking up giant phone bills (remember those) as we talked long distance each day. At that time, I felt I knew Janae better than most people. If asked, I would have said what I knew about Janae could have filled the Earth, while what I didn’t know (but wanted to) could have filled the Sun.
Many years later, if asked how well I know my wife, I’d say my knowledge of her would fill the Sun, quickly followed by me saying what I don’t know would easily fill our Solar System. You see, the more I learn about my amazing wife, the more I learn I don’t know. And it’s not just about her! I learn more and more about who I am as well!
I share this because one of our core Hillspring values as we “become more like Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit” is to “develop meaningful relationships.” And one of the biggest keys to doing this is to be humble in all our relationships. Being humble means, we have a "correct estimate of who we are in relation to everyone and everything around us." For instance, we, as humans, are created. God is the creator. When we try to be God, it doesn't go well. Just ask Adam and Eve. I remember the joke, “if you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans.” Yet, we do this all the time. We tell God what we are going to do and ask God to bless it. Then we get upset when our plans don’t work out. How different would things be if we humbly put God first and committed ourselves to “the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do?" The point is this, if we don't humble ourselves, we put God in a box. We limit ourselves to what we think we know. We miss out on what God may be up to in and around us. And we misrepresent God by attributing things to God that have nothing to do with God! Amazingly, God still loves us, desires the best for us, forgives us, and "corrects and redirects" us despite our arrogance! But we must humble ourselves to receive all God wants to give us. If we don’t, our relationship with God stalemates or fades.
It's no different in our relationships with others. All of us bear God’s image. We are all loved by God. We are all called to care for the rest of creation. And we are all invited through Jesus to be a part of God’s Kingdom and ongoing work in the world!
What would happen if this was our starting point in our relationship with others?
If we took the words of the Apostle Paul seriously when he wrote:
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus who did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross?!”
Humbling ourselves isn’t easy. We like to be in control. We don’t want to be hurt, embarrassed, or passed over. But if we refuse and allow our arrogance to take over, we become a “know it all.” We put others in a box. We stop listening. We stop learning. We falsely believe we are better than others around us. And we miss out on what could have been because our relationships stalemate, fade, or end…
However, when we embrace humility, we realize there's much more to learn – and it never ends! Boxes are shattered, God is lifted, others are blessed, AND our relationships with God and others deepen and develop to levels we have never experienced!
As we move closer to celebrating the empty tomb and look to develop meaningful relationships, may we find a way to let go of our arrogance. May we “humble ourselves before the Lord” and know that when we do, God will “lift us up.”
Grace & Peace Hillspring!
Pastor Justin