This was a Christmas message I read
on Facebook the other day. I was caught
a little off guard by the concept of “our humble God” and as was wished upon
me, my day was filled with reflections upon: Our humble God.
The part of this greeting that most
caught my mind and heart was how God is described. He’s ours and more than that, He is
humble. Honestly, my first reaction was
to resist the concept, worried that we were getting close to falling off a theological
cliff. Humble God? What? That can’t be right. God is so…well, so
great! Perhaps I have a poor, weak concept of humility. As the words began to sink in, I realized that once again, our God was unveiling an unspeakable
mystery about who He is. I am awestruck by so wondrous a thought - His
humility is profound, almost too much.
Consider mankind – better yet, consider yourself. Who are we, that God would acknowledge us and
our deep need? Please understand that I am not trying to make anyone feel like a worthless worm. Our value is authenticated by the image of God stamped upon each living soul. Yet, He is infinite, and we are puny. "We are but dust." But even beyond our state as small, created beings lies the harsh reality that we are a deeply
fallen people, every one of us. We
rejected the very one who made us, shunned our only Hope by saying, “I’ll be
doing life on my own, thank you very much.”
In our selfishness, we wandered far from God, each of us corroded by the
blackness of grotesque sin. And yet…
“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
Unthinkable!
Forgiveness requires humility. Anyone who has willingly chosen mercy over
judgment will tell you that it’s simply not natural to release a sinner from
their debt. If you’ve been on the giving
end of mercy then you are keenly aware of the humility required. But just imagine an absolutely perfect
Creator God CHOOSING to forgive that which He would have every right to
judge. Imagine this righteous God
choosing to give freedom to the sinner rather than to condemn him. Yes - that’s our humble God.
Now Consider
God. Or rather – try. Creator. Majestic. Glorious. Holy. Eternal.
Almighty. Humble.
What we
needed was more than forgiveness – we needed atonement. Someone – and not just any Someone, but a
perfect glorious Son - to stand in our place, to take the hit, to willingly
receive absolute lethal punishment for our sin.
This kind of sacrifice would require an unimaginable, never-before-seen,
depth of humility. Unfathomable! Our great God becomes puny man for you and for
me.
This
Majestic, Glorious, Holy, Eternal God chose to put aside divinity, don human
frailty in the form of a helpless infant born in a stable one night, alone and
dependent, subjecting Himself to life among those who have wandered – those who
hate. Seriously, who does that?
Our humble
God, that’s who.
“Who, being in very nature God, did not
consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made
himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness. And being found in appearance
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a
cross!” Phil 2:6-8
But why? Why does Divinity choose humility even to the
point of death when He could have justly walked away from us all?
Because Love
wins.
Love is the
foundation of everything He is – His glory, His holiness, His majesty and yes,
His humility. In love He forgives us and
in love He saves us. In love He chose
crazy unthinkable humility, condescending to the lowest of lows in order that
we might be lifted up to the highest of highs, that is, with Him. Love.
Because He
chose humility, we can also choose humility.
Because He
forgives us, we can forgive others.
Because He
loves us, we can love others.
That’s
freedom. That’s salvation.
That’s our
Humble God.
