Humility

Read: Philippians 1-2

I've decided to stay with Philippians for 4 days, 1 for each chapter, but focusing on a different chapter each day. Didn't quite make it as far as I'd like to go in the book tonight, but these are long chapters. Could you imagine writing these things out by hand like Paul did? I'm exhausted with a page of writing. But also, thank God that he had to write these by hand. Why? Consider the blog entry: how long would Philippians have been if Paul's hands wouldn't have eventually worn out!?

Anyways, what really grabbed me tonight is in 2:5-8. Peterson even titled the chapter after this very idea: "He Took on the Status of a Slave." I don't claim to be an expert on world religions but I'm pretty sure that Christianity is fairly unique in this one respect, the idea of the supreme being or deity humbling himself. Yeah, there's a lot of self-exaltation in the Old Testament but the depths of humility in the New Testament are unsoundable. It's really a tremendous thing: God wanted us to be with him so bad that he came to us. God. Us. It really makes no sense. You'd have a tough time convincing me it was a good idea, mortal or immortal. God's crazy, folks. But seriously, it's such a novel thing and it is one of the things I love about Christianity: the uniquness of the humble God begging us to listen to and love him.

Humility itself is fairly amazing. I think it's on my mind because of a conversation I had with Lisa yesterday. We were being all mushy on the phone (it being three years and all (woohoo!)) when she thanked me for something that implied I was doing something sorta well that she needed a bit more practice with. It really meant a lot to me; not the fact that I was "right" and she wasn't, but something else that I couldn't put my finger on. I was seriously in tears though, just not sure why. But after some reflection I decided that what had really affected me was the humility and vulnerability in what she had said, that she was willing to be open and bare her soul even though it didn't cast her in the most flattering light. God, I love that girl :)

Anyways, that display of humility really inspired me to want to do better in everything I do now too. I forget where I read it but I read about a woman who came to her pastor and told him she wanted to divorce her husband because he didn't meet any of her needs. He advised her to spend the next four weeks doing everything he asked her and more, even going so far as to anticipating what he'd want and doing it in advance. She probably thought this pastor was nuts. But, she tried it anyways and reported back to the pastor after the four weeks that it was the best thing she had ever done. When she humbled herself into serving him she found that he started to reciprocate until he was doing the exact same thing she was. Their marriage was saved. It's a hard first step to take in any relationship we have, earthly or heavenly, but it's an infectious one in a good way. (If anyone can tell me where that story is from, I'd be unbelievably thankful!)

I think that this passage demonstrates that one of the keys to humility is to be ready to serve. Higher up (2:3 or thereabouts, no verse numbers in The Message) Paul admonishes us not to "push [our] way to the front." When we expect to serve and not to be served we will find a readiness in others to serve us and others as well. And, folks, that is the Kingdom we're all working for, or at least a good idea for the Church right now :)