By: Juliet Constantine
"I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luke 18:14)
Humility is not one of my strong qualities. So, it is quite humbling when the Holy Spirit tempers my desire to exalt myself. I had an experience where I was in the right and I just wanted to defend myself and expose the offending party. With anger in my heart and fire raging in my eyes, I was prepared to step forward and beat my chest like the Pharisee, defending my right! But then, the Holy Spirit spoke and said, “Hold your peace and do not let your attitude or your voice betray how you feel”. Needless to say, it was not an easy feat, but I was surprised at the change in me. You see, when you choose to obey, the Holy Spirit helps you. I came out of that meeting dignified and everyone was happy.
It has not always been this way. Remember I said humility is not one of my strong qualities. There was another time when I was truly and unfairly wronged and like Peter, I started to curse. But God, through His Spirit, spoke to me and said, “I know you are hurting, but be careful that you do not loose your witness. Though you are wronged, you are respected”. I was moved to tears, and the path was paved for my healing.
Like the Pharisee, we sometimes list all the good things we’ve done and all the bad things we did not do. We use others as our standard of righteousness and compare ourselves with them, thinking that we are better. We turn up our noses at some struggling soul and beat them down with what they should’ve done vs what was really happening. We fail to empathize. We have arrived! Or so we believe.
You see, no matter how good you’ve been, God cannot do much with you if you are not humble. Our standard of righteousness is not our brothers, but Christ. Paul admonished that when someone is overtaken by a fault, we that are spiritual should restore that brother and consider ourselves, lest we also be tempted. We are here to help each other, not pull down each other by exalting ourselves. So what if the brother has a struggle, don’t we all? What if the sister is a sinner, is any sin bigger than the other? We all fall down, sometimes, but we get up! And since we know what the struggle is like, we should be helping the brother, the sister to get up too.
There’s no need to exalt yourself. Exalt His name instead! Thank God for what He did in your life (and what He continues to do) and ask Him to help you to lend a helping hand in His work of polishing others for His kingdom. Give Him the glory! His grace knows no measure.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your work of restoration of your image in us, your children. Please help us to humble ourselves in every situation as you work to exalt us before angels. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Copyrighted by Juliet Constantine 2014 (for “Alone With God – Finding Jesus In The Scriptures” Daily Devotional)
