Sermon Snippets

Humility and How I Got It.

That's the title of the book I'd write if I was ever able to con a publisher into letting me author a book. At least that's the title I came up with in high school as me and my friends were joking around. It's ironic and sarcastic - just like my sense of humor.

To seriously write a book on humility is a dangerous endeavor though. Preaching and teaching about humility is as well. One article I found from Time magazine offered this helpful and true commentary:

"that word humbled is an interesting one to think about. Humility is a virtue — except when it isn't. We think of it as one of the attributes that make up a certain quiet acceptance of one's lot, even saintliness — think of Pope John XXIII. At the same time, what the books call false humility — the act of constantly saying that one is not worthy, a not-so-subtle way of provoking someone else to exclaim, "Oh! But you are!" — is one of the most annoying of all character traits. Uriah Heep...in Charles Dickens' David Copperfield — forever telling everyone how 'umble he is — must be one of the most loathsome figures in world literature."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1929452,00.html#ixzz2Rb0Ps0o4

Our world admires humility, to a point.  We grow suspicious of people who are always humble and we will grow to hate those who are always modest-but-fishing-for-compliments-and-praise. We also will grow tired of humility in some circumstances:

Another distinction: we may want our national leaders to be personally humble, just as we would like them to be kind and generous and to take out the cat litter each night. (Funnily enough, of the hundreds of politicians I've met over the years, humble is a description that comes to mind for very few. Now that I think about it: none.) But we do not really want them to be politically humble. Passivity and resignation in the face of challenge may, in some religious-belief systems, represent an admirable surrender to the will of the Almighty. But we do not elect leaders to be monks. We want them to do things.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1929452,00.html#ixzz2Rb0sVm7b

In Mark 10:32-45, Jesus calls us to take a humble posture no matter what. He calls us to follow his example and listen to his instruction when he says that in God's view, greatness is found in humility, service, and assuming the position of the lowest of the low (even if you deserve better).  The first will be last and the last will be first, because the Son of Man came to serve not to be served. Jesus came not to rule, but to give his life as a ransom for many.