Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up (James 4:10). When we think of being humble, we sometimes get a picture of someone with low self esteem. The Spirit has ministered to me that humility and low self esteem are not synonymous. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you (1 Peter 5:6-7). Humility is believing you have needs you cannot fulfill by yourself; being humble before God is knowing He is what you need. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself (Philippians 2:3). That sounds like the idea of low self esteem is synonymous with humility, until you take a close look at the words with an understanding of the gospel.
The sin of Satan, as described in the scriptures, was attempting to put his throne above the throne of God. Adam and Eve bought into that sin when they listened to the serpent. Being humble before God is reversing that sin and placing self in right order with God. Low self esteem produces the opposite effect. Someone with low self esteem believes that even God cannot help them; removing God His rightful place as their Help. The reality is that their lowliness becomes of more importance than God, or holds a higher position than God in their life. Their weakness becomes their God and rules over them; not allowing God to be their strength.
Peter instructed us to cast all of our cares upon God, as an act of being humble. When we understand that God cares for us, then He can exalt us in His time. When we wait for God to exalt us we are not acting out of self ambition or conceit. When we wait for God to exalt us we do not climb onto others (sit over others) to exalt ourselves. When God exalts us, it is not on the backs of others. “…but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself” is not saying to have low self esteem. The phrase “lowliness of mind” is speaking of humility. Being humble towards God (putting God in right perspective), do not now get pride in His exaltation and use it to exalt yourself over one another. Let the same God be God in the other as He is in you. Do not let the title you placed on your calling cause you to exalt yourself over God in the other person; if you do you have given into Satan’s sin and exalted yourself above God. Let God also care for the other, and exalt the other as He desires and in His time.
The message in Philippians 2 is one of being Christ-like or like Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, came into the creation God created to serve the creation and die for our sins. Jesus did not have low self esteem, but was willing to do the will of our Father; humbling Himself. If the Son of God came as the Son of Man to serve, how can those among the sons of man exalted by God through His life, death, and resurrection be exalted above Him? We cannot. The throne of God is within me; it dwells in my praise of God; the throne of God is exalted to the proper place in my life through my worship of God as my Help in due season.
Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus knows who He is and does not exalt Himself above who He is. Jesus said come to me because I am humble; and take my yoke (not as a plows yoke, but as a balance) and you will find rest because it is easy. Humble yourself towards God who is humble. What? We were created to be in His image; God is humble and so we should be humble. God is lowly in heart – a King who serves. In the yoke Jesus wants us to take He is walking beside us in the same yoke. His throne is within us and not sitting on top of us, like the throne of man. When we humble our self towards God, the throne of man placed on top of us is removed and the throne of God is placed within us. God take a position beside us in the yoke of life and walks beside us as a partner in this yoke. God is the greatest servant, and we need to let Him be who He is in our life. That is what it means to be humble towards God!
© 2010, Tim D. Coulter Sr.