Humility looks good on anyone who dares to wear it.
No matter what is going on in your household, or the households you will visit this Christmas, if you will wear humility, you will represent the best of what Christmas has to offer.
Why? Because it’s what Jesus did the very first Christmas. And He has never stopped. Humbly born in a manager, humbly dying on the cross; He humbled Himself and still humbles Himself.
Jesus stoops to us in His majesty to pick us up from our foolishness. He endures insult, anger, and intentional arrogance against His person. And continues to love us, clean up our messes, endure our absence from Him, and pursue us. He possesses divine patience and attention to us regardless our posture toward Him. If we can, by faith, have the same attitude and exercise the same grace toward all this Christmas – we will be most truly in the spirit of Christmas.
Consider this:
‘Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.’ Philippians 2:3-8
The LORD of every mountain and molecule departed heaven where His will is perfect and all perfectly obey it in joy and splendor. He left to endure shame, abuse, murder, and abandonment. For us.
We will not endure more than He did at the hands of our family or friends, even though some will be called on to endure much. Some of you will be lonely in a crowd, so too was Jesus. Except for the love of His Father, He would have been truly, bottomlessly, lonely. Some of you will suffer the pain of separation. Jesus was catastrophically separated from His Father while He bore our sins on the cross. Some of you will be hurt by those you love most. Jesus too, suffered the worst of rejections. His own received Him not. Even slandered and killed Him.
Yet He remained humble. To the death. A shameful, undeserved death.
But look at why He did it.
‘fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’ Hebrews 12:2-3
It will most likely not seem joyful to you to endure some of the things the holidays bring. Like Jesus – the joy comes later. It was in front of Him, not necessarily present with Him as He suffered. Meaning, when we suffer, we have a hard time sensing the joy to come. But come it will!
For Jesus, the joy has come. His exaltation is real. His presence with His Father is real. For us, full joy is coming, partial joy is here but often difficult to truly grasp. Notice that Jesus despised the shame of His circumstances. Sound familiar? Yet joy was mingled in the shame.
It’s the same for us when we abandon ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit to rule our spirits. No matter what your Christmas circumstances, the Spirit of God has the power to carry you through them in victory. My role and yours is to wear humility. We are called to humble ourselves, allow God to work, and endure the shame, while waiting for the joy. Truth be told, it’s already here!
Joy to the world, the Lord has come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
Here’s to Christmas, to making room in our hearts for Him, to imitating His humility. Here’s to trusting God. And here’s to giving ourselves over to the Spirit.
Here’s to a very Merry Christmas! May God Bless You and Yours!
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