"My New Book: Humility and How I Attained It"

Scripture Passage

Luke 18:9-14; Mark 10:1-12; Matthew 19:1-12; Mark 10:13-16; Matthew 19:13-15; Luke 18:15-17; Mark 10:17-31; Matthew 19:16-30; Luke 18:18-30

Scripture Focus

“I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14 NLT)

Observation

Humility stands as the persistent theme of today’s reading. Humility is at the center of the tax collector’s prayer—“O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner” (Luke 18:13 NLT).

Humility is the missing ingredient that requires Moses to allow a “written notice of divorce”—as opposed to God’s intention of marriage as a life-long covenant. (“How’s that,” you say? Moses allowed for divorce “as a concession to…hard hearts” (Mark 10:5 NLT)—hearts unwilling to forgive. I think a humble heart is a forgiving heart.

Humility is one of the great qualities children have that ought to be emulated by adults who want to participate in God’s kingdom. “For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children” (Matthew 19:14 NLT).

Humility was the absent quality in the “rich, young ruler”—who could not bring himself to part with that “stuff” so closely tied to his own sense of identity and worth.

And a reversal of the lot of the humble will mark the inauguration of God’s kingdom in fullness—“But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then” (Matthew 19:30 NLT).

Everywhere I look in today’s reading, I see a call to humility. I suspect (God has a way of doing things like this) that means I’ll have the opportunity to humble myself today. I pray I act on it.

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