Just Like Jesus

"We can have found no better King than Jesus, whose compassion poured out in the humblest of ways."

JESUS WAS MEEK, NOT WEAK. Meekness, or humility, like the peace of God, has great strength. A quiet person is not necessarily seething inwardly nor about to collapse. The ability to stay calm, to be humble, in situations, the ability to remain unperturbed while chaos erupts around you, is only found in God. He is the God OF PEACE. When He speaks, He speaks in faith, knowing His Word always comes to pass. He isn’t altered by men’s antics. He is always the same. Nor is He prideful because He is God. He is great and majestic. He is strength and unending power. But you will not find one trace of arrogance in Him.

Where Jesus was strong, where He spoke sharp, He spoke the words of the Father. Where He did miracles that caught the attention of men, He did the works of the Father, filled with the Spirit without measure. Then He humbled Himself to become the sacrifice of redemption. He heard the laughter and the mockery; He endured the pain and the mental and physical torment, because the Father had sent Him to do so.

A good king knows who he is, is knowledgeable of his lineage, of what put him into power. He understands the laws of the kingdom and the authority he’s been given. But he also has compassion for the people. He sits on his throne. He also walks through the streets, aware of the flower seller as much as the soldiers around him. We can have found no better King than Jesus, whose compassion poured out in the humblest of ways, that the one who was divine, who was God, gave all that up to learn obedience.

“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;” (Hebrews 5:8)

Obedience is the behavior of humility. Humility is the sacrifice of self. Of selfishness. Instead of seeking our own way, we seek the heart of the other. Not in debasement, not as a pawn in a game, but as a servant. As one who would wash another’s feet. There, knelt Jesus, and Peter protested. “Not just my feet, Lord, but my head and my hands as well.” But that was not the point. It wasn’t about how much to wash, but the reason for washing, that the Son of God would stoop to that level and wash His creation.

That He would stoop down to BE His creation. Jesus laid down all His divine privileges to be born as an infant that needed to grow up physically and mature mentally, to be a boy that needed parents to guide Him, who had siblings vying for His personal space, and best friends. And all for the purpose of death. How overwhelming that the God who made the earth walked on the earth as the man He’d breathed life into and loved to that extreme.

What an honor it is for us to be like Him. Humility does not ignore its advancement. A humble man can still seek a better job, a better position with more authority, but a humble man does not step on others to do so. And a humble man in the kingdom of God places God’s will for His life first place. He does what He knows to do, and God makes the increase. He is kind. He is patient. He is dedicated, even if that is to His own hurt.

Backed up to the wall for His faith, he will not back down and does not give into ungodliness or immorality. He suffers persecution without giving into sin or turning aside from God’s character. And to take it even further, the apostle Paul said he sought to be “all things to all men,” in order to show them Jesus. Here was a Pharisee who knew the law and had defended it, yet as a humble man, preaching the gospel, he became far more powerful. As Jesus had, he laid down his rights, all he’d learned and been taught, in order to serve.

This is our calling. There are administrative offices in the church and gifts of the Spirit, given as He wills, but they are simply positions of humility, making men responsible to God for the very thoughts and intents of their heart. We seek to be humble, and through meditation on the Word of God, learn the ways of humility, each of us, in whatever capacity we are placed, pleasing our heavenly Father who is the most humble of all. No one is more misunderstood and yet loves to His extent without one trace of regret.

“LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? … He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” (Psalm 15:1, 4)

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

“But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:7-8)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com