It’s been said that humility is one of those virtues that once you know you have it, you’ve lost it. It’s like the man who wrote a book and titled it Humility and How I Achieved It. Being humble is a virtue that’s gone the first time we brag about it.
The Bible gives us our model of humility – Jesus. While Jesus never wrote and published a book about his life while he lived on earth, other people did write about him and his ministry. That’s how we have the Gospels. Plus, frequent mentions of Jesus’ life of humility are found in the New Testament letters. The authors of the New Testament held up Jesus as the example for us to follow if we are to be people of humble actions.
Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,” and then in the next verses he lays out the downward steps Jesus took in leaving the glories of heaven and humbling himself by becoming human. Jesus, having full deity, became fully human in order to serve and minister among people and to people, ultimately giving himself in death upon the cross for their salvation. This gives us the example of how to lower ourselves for the sake of others. But this can only happen by us having the mind of Christ.
The problem, though, is that our mind is corrupted by sin and it can’t be like Christ’s mind. For the mind of Christ to be in us, it takes the power of the Spirit of God. We receive the mind of Christ first at the moment of salvation as the Holy Spirit takes residence inside us, and then it is developed continually every day when we surrender to Christ as Lord.
Having the mind of Christ means that Jesus takes over. Only Jesus can transform our mind. Having the mind of Christ and living in humility means the crucifying of ourselves — the killing of our wills, our wants, our ambitions so that Christ takes control and His desires, His will, and His actions are performed through us.
As we seek to reclaim joy in our life, we must realize that joy comes in humbling ourselves and serving others. Selfishness and pride will not give you joy. If you’re trying to live for yourself most of the time and live a little for Jesus just a couple of hours during the week you won’t have joy. Why? Because your will and flesh are going to be pulled by the world, which says it can give you joy and pleasure. But the world doesn’t give us anything that lasts. It will not fulfill what only the Spirit of Christ can fulfill in us.
Jesus left heaven and came to earth for us. And He did so with joy. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” It was Jesus’ joy to serve others, and then to die for others. The humiliation that Jesus bore upon Himself on the cross was done for our benefit. What He did at Calvary was the greatest display of humility that any person can ever give. No one can duplicate that act. However, as we let the mind of Christ rule in us, we can lower ourselves to put other people first and serve them with the same love and humility with which Christ served us, and discover the joy that comes in doing so.
