Matthew 23:11-12

Matthew 23:11-12 - The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

We often get the wrong idea of what humility is. In the bible we see so many places where it talks about being humble and we get it into our heads that we have to tear ourselves down and make sure we are at the ‘bottom of the barrel’ to be humble. That is not true.

If you read this whole passage in Matthew 23 you see that Jesus is not saying that at all. He begins by talking about the religious leaders of that day and how they live. They practice making themselves look good at the expense of others. That is where the problem comes in.

If you are trying to gain a better position by exploiting others weaknesses you will eventually fail. You may see quick results at the beginning, but those results will be short lived. Then we look at humility and think that humility means we must do the opposite, which would mean we must tear ourselves down.

That is not what Jesus did and that is not what He is asking you to do either. As we look at Jesus life we see humility in a different light. Humility is not tearing yourself down, it is lifting others up. That is what Jesus did.

Jesus focused on the needs of others and treated them how He wanted to be treated. I’ve heard it said that, “Successful people figure out what they are good at; Successful leaders figure out what others are good at.” That is how we should view humility. If we are looking to help those around us and assist them in their success we will be rewarded in ways we could never achieve on our own.