Want To Be On Top?

“I’d rather do it myself!”  You may remember that old commercial of the young wife who was reacting to the help she was being offered by her mother in the kitchen.  Do you know the feeling?

In many areas of our lives we think we know best, and at other times we may realize that we could use some help but don’t want to look weak or ignorant.  We all enjoy appearing successful, receiving the accolades, having it all together…being on top of life.


What’s at stake here?  Isn’t it our personal pride?  How humiliating it is to have others discover our weaknesses and failures, to feel a resultant shame, guilt or sense of rejection.  In extreme cases it can be hard to live those experiences down.

As usual, what the Scriptures teach us is diametrically opposite of what conventional wisdom would say to us about the subject.  Want to be on top?  Humble yourself before God (James 4:10)! That’s right, if you wait for others to do it to you – that’s humiliation.  Do it yourself – that’s humility.
 
It begins with an honest look at ourselves before the Lord, agreeing with Him that apart from Him we can do no good thing (John 15:5).  Starting from that point, we will reach the obvious conclusion that anything worthy of praise that we may accomplish is all because of Him.  He gets the glory, and we keep our humility. 
 
That does not mean we do not strive for excellence.  On the contrary, we are motivated to work for a higher standard because we are representing Him.  We do our best and leave the results to Him.  How tremendously liberating it is to be just a servant carrying out the instructions of your Master, who bears the responsibility for the outcome!  But He is a Master who has invited us also to be His friends and to share in the joy of His work.
 
And this is not just in regard to purely spiritual matters, but everything in life.  If all things are held together by the power of our Creator’s hand (Colossians 1:16,17), we are totally dependent on Him for everything we have, including the very air we breathe and for every heartbeat He gives us.  It is hard to be prideful when we remember that our stay on His planet is solely at His behest.  Yet He has graciously provided for all our needs.
 
As we advance in our professions, occupations or businesses, we gain confidence, build experience and may achieve significant success and recognition.  Little by little, we can lose sight of our true dependency on the Lord and begin to trust in unreliable things, like our own abilities, achievements and incomes.  Perhaps this, in part, is what Jesus meant by the “deceitfulness of riches” in the parable of the soils where the crop was choked out by weeds and thorns.

Consider the story of the experienced fisherman, Peter, whom Jesus told to move his boat into deep water and let down his nets.  Out of respect he obeyed but under a mild protest because of his “superior” knowledge of the fishing industry.  Since he and his business partners had already fished all night without a single catch, he believed it would be a waste of time and effort during the day.  Yet the nets began to break because of the enormity of the catch that resulted (Luke 5:1-11)!

Numerous times over the years the Lord has allowed me to crash and embarrass myself when I was being ambitious for my own self interests or feeling very sure of myself.  Now, that’s humiliation, and I don’t recommend it.  But it’s better than going through life without learning humility.  During the weeks of my hospitalization and months of recovery and rehab, I have learned more deeply my full dependency on Jesus like never before.  In that respect it has been a blessing.

I’ve come to realize that we, as His followers, will either humble ourselves, or He will do it for us!  “Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,” and we cannot become like Him without learning humility.  He came as a humble servant of His Father, and we certainly are not greater than our Master.  He graphically demonstrated for the disciples on the night of His arrest the servant heart through His example of washing their feet.

Still want to be on top?  Jesus said, “…whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.”  Matthew 20:26b-27