From humility to body suits

Lately I have been struggling through the idea of humility. I mean what is it? I know that I shouldn’t be prideful about anything because EVERYTHING comes from God but why?
The Bible speaks that if we humble ourselves God will lift us up, which alludes to something greater. In Romans 12 Paul calls the followers of Jesus to be living sacrifices, which aside from being a paradox in its very nature, is an amazing idea. The thought that we must give up our lives in order to come to God is profound, yet the truth that we must die in order to live in Christ is earth shattering.

In verse three Paul says to not think of yourself as greater than any other but to examine your self with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Even your own personal faith is God given! Christ laid His life down, so that we might believe with a faith that He gives. This is what we preach.

I was talking with my Pastor Mike a little while ago, and he said that the most selfish thing we can do is put our complete lives in the hands of God. I had never heard this before, but it makes complete sense! With our lives in the hand of an almighty, all-powerful king how can we lose? So how does a Christian become humble, or appear humble? The only way to do this is when the recognition is entirely given to God. My friend Jon says that we are like clay pots that carry the gospel. We are ugly, and it is only when we are cracked that Christ’s light is able to shine out of us.

2 Corinthians 4 says that we do not preach ourselves but that which is in us. What an amazing burden lifted! I like to look at this as though we are living with an indestructible body suit…… If I had an indestructible body suit I would throw myself off cliffs, slide down the Bonneville dam, and drag myself behind cars… maybe this is a stupid analogy but think about it. When we are living in Christ we are entirely safe, our eternity is paid for in full; it is the best life insurance policy around. So would we not be doing a complete injustice to God if we didn’t live as though we had nothing to lose? Because when we come down to it we don’t. God will give us what He wants in accordance with His will.

I am reading this book that many of you have probably read or heard of, it’s called Crazy Love, it is an awesome book by Francis Chan that has challenged me in my own alignment with God. Francis tells a story about when he was in high school he thought of joining the Marines but then though of how hard it would have been physically so he changed his mind. He never asked them if he could do a few less push-ups or if he could run a little bit less, so when we become Christians why don’t we give Christ our all? I think it then boils down to this: Will we humble ourselves enough to be living sacrifices?

I pray that we all do.