There are tons of aspects about God that amaze me, but I want to highlight one of them. This gets me every time I read it in the Bible: how Jesus allows himself to be betrayed, mocked, beaten, and killed, and yet He is God of the universe. He hung there on the cross, dying, gasping for breath and in extreme pain, and the people who he made and formed and watched since they were little children, the people who grew up and became his enemies...those people stand there making fun of him, yelling things like, "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross", and "He saved others; he cannot save himself."
This gets me because Jesus is the only one who ever lived who had the divine right to zap them out of existence, to call down those angel armies, to have that "I'll show you" attitude, and yet he hung there and loved them. He asked God not to hold it against them.
And yet we get up in arms when someone simply disrespects us?
I was reading a passage in 1 Peter that really challenged me. Ch. 2, verses 19-23.
"For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly."
What level of humility is this....and is it even attainable? This attitude isn't just something "nice" that's good to keep in mind. Here it says it's a calling. If we're claiming to answer the call to live a Christian life, that's major. His example that we're to follow is perfect...He's the one who had every right to revile, but He didn't. I love the end part about how he "entrusted himself to the one who judges justly." When we take revenge into our own hands, we're making ourselves the judge. But God says that vengeance belongs to Him. Can we trust him with the injustices we experience? Can we release those people to Him and ask, as Jesus did, that God would forgive them? Can we replace retaliation with prayer?
I don't think humility means living a boundary-less life or letting people walk all over us. That's not honoring to God, either. Humility is more about having a right idea about ourselves in relation to God, recognizing our sinfulness and rejoicing in His righteousness which, because he chose the road of humility which led to the cross, is now ours. Humility isn't weakness, either. It's easy to return evil for evil, right? I think it takes more God-given strength to go against something that comes naturally to us.
Humility is a funny thing though; it can't be aware of itself or else it'll cease to be. Anyone who says "I'm humble" would be considered arrogant. It's definitely a process, part of our sanctification, and not a state to be reached completely in this life.
Asking for humility is dangerous prayer to pray, but what a privilege to walk in the steps of Christ!
