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.

Philippians 2:3-4

Philippians 2:3-4 – Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

       It is our nature to be selfish. We naturally want to make sure that we are ok, without as much concern for those around us. Our society teaches that we ought to look to our own needs first and above all. While it is not wrong to take care of ourselves it should not be our priority. There has to be a balance.

       If all we are doing is looking to our own wants and needs we will walk all over those around us. On the flip side, though, if all we are doing is looking out for others needs and neglect ourselves then we will end up running out of resources to help others and we will be taken advantage of.  That’s why there has to be a balance.

Here we see that we are to consider others better than ourselves. This is done out of humility, which is often misunderstood. Many think that to be humble is to put yourself underneath others. This is not true. Humility is not putting yourself down, it is lifting others up. You must maintain a positive view of who you are because you are a child of God. It’s all about perspective.

In the next verse we see again that we are not to ignore our own needs. It actually tells us to look out for our own interests, as well as the interests of others. I can’t stress enough that it is about balance. We don’t neglect one to do the other. If you can’t manage your own needs what makes you think that you can manage the needs of others.

If we have a proper view of who we are in Christ we will take better care of ourselves and in turn be able to better care for those around us. So, live life in humility, and remember that humility is not putting yourself down, it is lifting others up.