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The Work of God |
Jesus is the path, since he is the
incarnation of humility. But for us mortals, humility must be found in the things we do,
in the humiliations we accept and in the littleness we embrace just as Jesus did.
Humility is not about being poor and wearing humble clothes, is not about staying away
from riches or power or things of the world since we must live in the world and for some,
riches and possession can coexist with humility of heart. However a humble rich man would
not count too much on his riches, he would share his riches with the poor in order to
follow Jesus.
King David was a very rich man, yet he was humble of heart, even though he committed great
sins, he confessed his sins to God and had them always before him, he obtained his
forgiveness and lived to love Him.
He pleased the Lord by having a humble and contrite heart.
The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord (Psalm 111:10) .
Not fear of his punishment but rather fear of offending him, of losing him or separating
from Him. Sin separates man from God therefore man becomes proud and ignores the law of
his maker. God does not force his commandments upon us but allows us to fall into sin so
that in our humiliation we can come to our senses, discover our pride and repent.
Humility of the heart consists in becoming like Jesus in all our thoughts, words and
actions.
We must think humbly, always remembering that God is watching our thoughts (Psalm 44:21), so we must avoid thoughts of impurity, envy and
hatred since we may offend Him.
Our words must be filled with charity and understanding, so that we don't offend anyone,
remembering that we shall be judged for every careless word that we say (Matthew 12:36)
Our actions must be conducted in the Will of God; in a way we must seek permission from
God for everything we do and we should seek his blessing for all our undertakings. We must
exercise our free will with humility to avoid doing something offensive in his sight.
The path of humility is a path of self discovery, it involves being over critical of any
little thing that may threaten our relationship with God. Humility involves a desire to be
like Christ, leaving behind the burden of pride to be free to carry the yoke and the
burden of the cross. Humility is submission to Christ which can only come if we love his
commandments. The humble man does not get offended by the pride of others who offend him,
he will forgive them and resist the temptation of being hurt.
Humility is not so much made up of external actions to obtain praise of other religious
people, it is a personal secret surrender to God, a very profound annihilation in the
sight of God because we are nothing and God is everything (Matthew
6:6).
In order to be justified by humility, we must acknowledge that we are proud. After all
this is the first of all sins, since all sins are committed in our pride (Proverbs 11:2). Pride is the sin that made Lucifer loose his place
of honor in Heaven, it is also the poison that destroys all the good we may have gained
through humility.
To be truly humble we must need God above all things, we must feel totally dependant on
Him, we must be afraid of losing Him, because without him we are nothing.
We, human beings are so far from God as darkness is from light, in fact our natures would
repel each other if we didn't have a bridge between us which is Jesus Christ our Savior.
Therefore we must spend the rest of our lives considering how to be humble.
And to say it once again, if we think we are humble, that in itself is a proud thought,
because there is only one who is humble, Christ himself who said learn from me because I
am meek and humble of heart (Matthew 11:29).
It would make us humble to meditate on how little charity we have for others, on how we
have harbored thoughts of impurity in our souls to offend the purity of God, on how cruel
we have been by crucifying our Savior with our sins or on how much we have loved ourselves
depriving God of our love.
God appeared to Moses in the shape of a
burning bush, from there he asked him to remove the sandals off his feet because he was
standing on holy ground (Exodus 3:5).
The Lord considered Moses a very humble man and yet he made him humble before Him in order
to teach us who He is. I am who am (Exodus 3:14), in other
words I am the one who exists or I am existence itself in other words your existence comes
from me. This is the holy name of God, I am who I am, existence and life.
Every time we say I am, we are claiming the gift of life that God has given us. Everything
that we do is done because God allows us to do it.
Just as we have the power to turn off a switch and make a room dark at night, God has the
power to switch our lives off whenever he wants because he is the author of life.
We should stop and meditate on this great mystery contained in the words "I am",
since it is a reflection of God Himself who gives us life.
It was suggested to Moses that he should remove the sandals of his feet as to teach us
that we must humble ourselves before God's Presence. So prayer must start with a very
special recollection, with sincere respect for God, with the highest reverence for the one
who loves us so much that allows us to exist.
God chose the people of Israel as his people and yet he allowed them to be slaved by the
Egyptians in order to humble them, but that wasn't enough, after they were freed by Moses
God allowed them to be humbled in the desert for forty years and yet they worshipped false
Gods and put God to the test.
God allows sin to humiliate us so that we feel the need to be purified to stand before
him, we need to be humble in order to face God in our repentance. God allows sufferings
and commands us to follow his laws in order to humble us into submission to his will,
otherwise we will perish in eternal flames.
Jesus the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Son of the Living God, the Almighty came
to teach us his ways, he was born in poverty, his parents fled to Egypt to escape the
persecution of Herod who wanted to kill him, Jesus was rejected by his own people and did
not perform miracles in Nazareth, he said that no one is prophet in his own land. He was
the Word of God, the one who said "let there be light "and light was created,
yet many people did not believe his words, he performed many miracles and was accused of
being with the devil. He was the Master of the Apostles and yet he washed their feet,
finally he was put to shame by his passion and death on the cross, but in this way
demonstrating his humility and obedience.
His reward is to be seated at the right hand of the Father, to reign with Him as our King
forever and ever. Those who follow Him and learn from humility will share His Kingdom of
Peace, Love and Joy for all eternity.
For so says the Lord, Isaiah 66:1-2
1 Thus says the LORD:
Heaven is my throne
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is my resting place?
2 All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things are mine,
says the LORD.
But this is the one to whom I will look,
to the humble and contrite in spirit,
who trembles at my word.
(Psalm 25:9) He leads the humble in what is right, and
teaches the humble his way.
(Proverbs 11:2) When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but
wisdom is with the humble.
Mary was the most humble of women and the Lord rewarded her humility by exalting her to be
the Mother of Jesus and the Queen of Heaven and all creation.
Luke 1:48-49
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name. (NRSV)
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