The Humbleness of Jesus

When I look back on the life of Jesus there is a word that just jumps out at me as I think about who He was. Yes, we all think of His grace and mercy and love and gentleness.....but there was and never will be one as humble as Jesus was. He is literally the definition of the word humble. If anyone had a reason to carry pride, to feel entitled, to feel right in every wrong situation..it was Jesus. I mean, just think about what Jesus "the man" knew as He walked the face of this earth. He knew was the son of the God. He knew He had been sent down from Heaven and He knew that at any given time He could have said "I don't want to carry out this plan" and His Father would have sent a thousand angels to come down to get Him. He knew He had never committed one single sin. He knew He was totally without blame. So as I stated, I don't know any other person who has ever, or will ever, walk the face of this earth who will have more of a right to not be humble as He did....BUT....HE WAS. And He demonstrated a humbleness that we can only hope to attempt to mimic in our own lives.
Remaining humble is a steady theme throughout the bible. It is not only something that Jesus modeled in His own life, but it is the very thing that allowed God to teach someone, to change someone and to use someone all throughout history. Psalms 25:9 says "The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way". James 4:10 says "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up". And James 4:6 says "But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble'". It's a clear message that tells us our humbleness pleases God and allows Him to do what He desires to do in our lives....which is ultimately to draw us closer to Him so we can be used more by Him.
So what does it look like to be humble? Webster defines it as "not proud : not thinking of yourself as better than other people". And again, if anyone had the right to feel this way, it was Jesus. But what made Him so different and why is it so important for us to learn from His humbleness? The main thing that made Him different was that He knew The Father and He took on the attitude of The Father. He had a servant's heart and He knew the best way to reach people was not always to show them how wrong they are (even if they flat out are), but instead to show them how loved they are. Not because they even deserve the love they are being shown, but because God's love is unconditional. And when we can demonstrate the unconditional love in those tough moments and humble ourselves, we are not just taking on the attitude of Christ, but we are taking on the heart of God. And that is when we will be the most effective for God.
Recently I was in a situation, and I could tell the enemy was trying to draw me into an argument with someone. I knew that I had some ground to stand on where I could "make my points" and "prove I was right" and "had the right to be upset" with them. You know, all the things the enemy loves to pump into our heads to puff up our pride. But instead I heard God whisper something in my ear that immediately humbled me....He said "what is more important here, that you look right, or that you look like Me?" And in a moment that broke me. It brought me directly to the point that I needed to be in order to let God work through me. And instead of responding to the person "in the moment" I asked God to humble me more and give me the right words. And to be honest, here is when you will know that you let God do His work...because no matter how the other person responds back to you, you will have peace. And you will know in that very moment, you heard from Him, you responded to Him, and He taught you something. And what the enemy meant for bad, God turned into something God. All because you humbled yourself before The Lord.
Trust me when I say I am still a work in progress. I wish I could say I get it right every time, but in my humbleness let me say I don't. But He continues to work on me with His beautiful grace...humbling me and drawing me closer to Him. The place I find peace and rest.
God, thank You for your patience with us. So many times we blow it and we worry about looking right instead of looking like you..please forgive us for those moments. Holy Spirit burn inside of us the importance to remain humble and how pleasing this is to God. Let our lives reflect you more and more and let other see You love, grace, mercy and humbleness in us, so we can draw other to You. In Jesus name, Amen