30 Days of Bite-Sized Faith: Twenty-Nine

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." (Ephesians 4:2)

"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord...Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:22 & 25)

"Your attitude should be the same as Christ 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." (Philippians 2:5-7)

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time." (1 Peter 5:6)

Okay, obviously I'm not going to completely unpack every single one of these verses, because we're still going for "bite-sized". Today I might sound like a broken record, because I've talked before about modeling our love after Christ, and the importance of humility. But it's so important, and I wanted to bring up all these verses and look at how they're all connected. This morning in church I heard a really wonderful sermon about the "dreaded" submission of wives. The point that made it not dreadful at all is that the roles are exemplified by our relationship with Christ. That relationship is filled with humility on both sides. Even though Christ is true God and has divine power, He humbled himself and became a man. There were times when He demonstrated the power He had, but there were also times when He chose to refrain. The most important example is when He was on the cross. He chose to endure that humiliating and torturous sacrifice through to completion, to save us. It is the ultimate example of humility and love. Now he is exalted (keep reading in that Philippians passage). We also endure suffering here on earth, but because of His suffering we will also share in the exaltation. 

This is our ultimate goal for relationships here on Earth - to emulate the humility, submission, sacrifice, and love that has been demonstrated for us by Christ. We will fall short, because we are sinners. We needed an example and we're slow learners. But I cannot stress enough that after suffering comes joy. When we consider our own needs as more important than those of others, we drive others away and are left with such a weight on our shoulders. But when we care for each other, offer encouragement, and admit our weaknesses to one another, even our weakness and pain becomes strength and blessing. While it may not always work with every person in your life (and those situations are difficult to handle), most of the time we draw in the love that we give out. Think of how incredible it is to be loved by Christ. Now think of how incredible it is to experience even a shadow of that kind of love here on Earth. Sound like something worth having? I certainly think so.  

I'm slowly learning that humility is the key to love and joy, even in those times when it seems like humility will cause me to lose everything. In the end, what God has in store for me is better than anything I may lose here.