Humility

12 Gifts of Christmas / 10th gift – Humility

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments 
What can I give Him,    Poor as I am? 
If I were a shepherd    I would bring a lamb, 
If I were a Wise Man    I would do my part,— 
Yet what I can I give Him,    Give my heart.   
Christina Rosetti   A Christmas Carol

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. Luke 2:20

I love Christina Rosetti and this poem of hers in particular, but in all actuality the shepherds did not bring a lamb. None of us would have even picked shepherds to invite to the outdoor maternity room. God had chosen Mary for her purity, Joseph reflected obedience and the wise men revealed the royalty of Christ. So what else could be added to that first Christmas? What the shepherds gave was a gift of humility. That gift of their humble praise echoed in the heart of Mary long after the sound of their footsteps vanished back into the night. Their joyful shouts even woke up the villagers and soon the good news of great joy spread throughout Bethlehem. Their very humility lent an authenticity to their message that no strangers bearing costly gifts could bring.

In fact throughout the earthly life of Jesus, that same humility tells the story of God’s love. We see it in a sinful woman’s tears washing Jesus’ feet at the home of a self righteous rich man. And there it is again in the humility of a Samaritan leper’s praise rather than his nine friends who never returned to give thanks. At the end of John’s gospel, Mary Magdalene waits outside the tomb weeping and asking someone she thinks to be the gardener if he knows where Jesus has gone. But when she hears that gardener call her name, she immediately knows that it is Jesus, and she falls in humility at His feet.

And what can we offer Him this Christmas? Costly gifts only reflect our lack of understanding of what matters most to God. He waits for simple shepherds, forgiven sinners, cleansed lepers and the broken hearted of every race, tribe and tongue to come. But if, as Christina Rosetti tells us, we give Him our heart, we will find Him delighted to welcome us for He is at most home with those who most reflect the humble heart of Jesus Christ.

Silly Goose!

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 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Romans 12:3

As a teen-ager I lived on a small farm for about two years. Every day I had pigs to slop, cows to milk, chickens to feed and even a couple of goats to tend. But of all the animals we had on the farm the ones I liked the least were the geese. Yes some mornings the cow could be ill- tempered, the pigs were smelly, and the chickens needed constant protection from the local raccoon but the annoying thing about geese is how they acted like they were better than any of the other animals on the farm.

photo of white goose

Photo by Annari du Plessis on Pexels.com

Whenever I approached to feed them they would stick out their necks and hiss and flap their wings in a phony show of courage. But if I took a few steps toward them, they would turn tail and run as fast as their clumsy webbed feet could carry them.  No matter how much they hissed, flapped or ran they never really convinced anyone of their importance. In fact one of my favorite things on the fourth of July was to shoot bottle rockets close to those geese and then laugh uproariously as they hissed and honked –  (Remember I was a teen-ager!) 

But before feeling so smug about how foolish those geese were I need to ask myself about the  times when to God I must have looked a lot like those geese. He sees me put on a great show of bravery and self-importance for my family, neighbors, or church; but when faced with real danger I have often run for the hills. How amazing that God still loves me and doesn’t treat me like I sometimes treated our poor silly geese. Instead He gently corrects me and tells me to remember that my importance isn’t about being better than others. No one is better than anyone else in God’s family. We are all loved and are each given a different job to do. So let’s not act like silly geese. Yes, God has made us special –  but not better than anyone else on the farm! 

 

Taking Advantage

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Taking advantage of an opportunity sometimes goes down the wrong staircase. What begins as a bright possibility sometimes steps down to focusing on our own goals and forgetting people around us. From there sadly it is not such a giant leap to gently manipulating friends to get what we want. But Jesus, who had the closest friendship with the very highest friend, never once pulled strings for His own advantage. Instead He humbled Himself and yielded His life for us.

We will never find freedom to be who He has called us to be till we cease looking to get ahead and simply serve those he sends us to. Remembering all that He gave up to come to our rescue how can we do less for Him?