'He humbled himself'

It began with Satan, and I can testify that it continues today.

The daily battle with pride goes on in my life. Recently a colleague was telling me with obvious joy of some success which he had seen in his ministry. I had to stop myself, realising that I could hardly wait for him to finish so that I could tell him a story from my own ministry, of a comparable or preferably greater success than his! It’s a daily battle, and I am convinced that if I am going to know some victory, I will need to focus on a person and a place.

I will need to have the attitude of Jesus, 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" (Philippians 2:6-8). This attitude of total humility draws Jesus to his Father: ‘Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.’

The cross is where I will need to be. It is at the cross that I find the great antidote to any foolish pride. It is at the cross I that find the great antidote to any foolish pride.  Here I see myself truly, as Jesus bears my sin and curse, and pays the debt that I could never pay. Here I can have no inflated views of myself, for I am cut down to size. I see that without Christ I am nothing, without his sacrifice forever lost.

If I can learn to live in the shadow of the cross, then a habit of thankfulness will be a sure result.  And that habit of thankfulness is a key to our spiritual and emotional health.

Ahead of the release of Radical Gratitude, you might like to browse the resources below and prayerfully consider if they will be of use to you in your walk with Jesus.