One forgotten territory in the Christmas story usually is the birth of humility in the person of the Christ Child.
Apostle Paul speaks of Jesus humbling himself to the extent of taking the form of a servant on his way to the cross.
But, the same humility was evident at the root of the incarnation story — God being willing to take up human form, thus subjecting Himself to human ministrations.
A spiritual person will always be ready to humble himself.
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
If we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, He will exalt us at the proper time (1 Pet. 5:5,6).
Henry Suso was a godly single man who lived in Germany.
He prayed often that the Lord would make him broken and humble, as was Jesus.
One day, Suso heard a knock at his door.
When he opened the door, he saw a strange woman standing with a baby in her arms.
He had never seen her before. The woman wanted to get rid of the newborn baby and had decided the best person to dump it on was Suso.
In a voice loud enough for everyone in the street to hear, she said, “Here is the fruit of your sin” and left the baby in Suso’s arms.
Suso was stunned.
His reputation in the town had been shattered.
He took the baby, knelt down and told the Lord, “You know I’m innocent. What must I do now?”
Having heard the Lord say, “Do what I did. Suffer for the sins of others,” he brought up that child as his own.
He was content that God knew the truth and he was willing to be misunderstood by others.
Years later, the woman was convicted of her sin and returned to proclaim to Suso’s neighbours that he was innocent and that she had lied.
But, what had happened in the intervening years?
Suso’s prayer had been answered.
He had become broken and humble like his Master.
God had been able to accomplish a work of sanctification in Suso’s life, freeing him of man’s opinion so that God’s opinion alone mattered to him thereafter.
Are we willing to pay such a price in order to become like Jesus? Or, do we seek the honour of men?
God often breaks us by allowing us to be misunderstood, misjudged, falsely accused and publicly humiliated.
It is best to leave such matters with God.
He knows what He is doing and He’s got everything under His control.
He is chiseling away at the rock to sculpture the likeness of Jesus in his people.
Some parts of the rock may be very hard, wherein He has to use persecution and false accusations to bring out the “shine.”
No one who waits upon God will ever be disappointed or be put to shame (Isaiah 49:23).
Let us follow in Jesus’ footsteps.
If we honour God, He will honour us one day.
If we are serious about following the Lord, we will find that God takes us through many painful experiences.
But His purpose in all of them is to free us from the opinions of men and from the chains that tie us down to earth, so that we can “mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31).
God will order our circumstances to so humble us before men that we get to the place where we finally care only for His opinion of us.
Our spiritual authority would then be exceedingly powerful.
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