Life’s Greatest Lesson

SYNOPSIS: Simply put, you didn’t choose God; he chose you. In reality, you were the last kid who would have been chosen when the team captains were picking sides, but God took you first. By His grace, you went from last to first. Never forget that, and you will be on your way to humility. When you understand the origin of humility—God’s unconditional, unmerited love in choosing you—and as you stay focused on the outcome of humility—the current and future favor of God—you will be ready and able to fight the drift of your self-focussed sin nature.

The Journey // Focus: Deuteronomy 7:6-7, 12

Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you….If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the Lord your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you.

As Moses wraps up his decades-long ministry of leading God’s people out of Egypt to the edge of their Promised Land, he gives them one of the most important lessons of all in Deuteronomy 7. It was a lesson that if learned, would guarantee divine blessings upon Israel for generations. It is a lesson that is still valid today, keying God’s continual favor upon us, too. What was the lesson? Humility.

St Augustine rightly noted that “Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues. Hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.” Humility is the foundation for ever other Christian virtue. A mindset and lifestyle of authentic humility is God’s clear calling and unquestionable expectation for his people. The Apostle Paul taught in Colossians 3:12-14,

“Your attitude should be the same as that of 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. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death…”

Did you catch that? The founder of our faith, Jesus, made himself nothing when he came to earth. 2 Corinthians 8:9 uses the same word to describe Jesus becoming poor. The root word in Greek is kenosis, which refers to Jesus emptying himself of his God-prerogatives in order to completely identify with us and lift us out of our spiritual poverty. Grammatically, the Greek language makes it clear that Jesus didn’t empty himself in spite of being God—that’s usually how we read this passage. Rather than reading it, “even though he was God, he made himself nothing” it should be read, “He made himself nothing precisely because he was God.” In other words, this expression of humility is the very nature of God.

This very attitude of humility is the same mindset that Paul calls us to take on. That is the same attitude that God himself, through Moses, called the Israelites to clothe themselves with as well. Of course, pulling off humility will be the hardest thing we will ever do because it rubs against the fur of our fallen, selfish nature. Moses, however, gives us the motive for doggedly pursuing humility, and our motivation is to be found in both the origin and the outcome of humility.

First the origin of humility is found in the unmerited, unconditional love that God has for us. Moses describes that in Deuteronomy 7:6-11,

For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. But he does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who reject him. Therefore, you must obey all these commands, decrees, and regulations I am giving you today.

Simply put, you didn’t choose God; he chose you. In reality, you were the last kid who would have been chosen when the team captains were choosing up sides, but God took you first. By God’s grace, you went from last to first. Never forget that, and you will be on your way to humility. Never forget that and you will never loose your humility.

Second, humility will survive in your life when you keep the outcome of true humility in your view-finder. Simply put, God blesses the humble with grace. (1 Peter 5:5-6, James 4:6, Proverbs 3:34). And Moses describes that grace outcome in terms of current and future favor in Deuteronomy 7:12-15,

If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the Lord your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you, as he promised with an oath to your ancestors. He will love you and bless you, and he will give you many children. He will give fertility to your land and your animals. When you arrive in the land he swore to give your ancestors, you will have large harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and great herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. You will be blessed above all the nations of the earth. None of your men or women will be childless, and all your livestock will bear young. And the Lord will protect you from all sickness. He will not let you suffer from the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all your enemies!

If you and I never forget God’s sovereignly selecting love, then live the rest of our lives as a thanks offering for that love, our daily offering of worship will be to present him lives wrapped in the holy humility of Jesus Christ. And there is no better way to live.

The founder of our faith, Jesus, made himself nothing when he came to earth. By emptying himself, he revealed his organic humility. As his followers, our calling is to clothe ourselves with that same humility. And when we understand the origin of humility—God’s unconditional, unmerited love in choosing us, and as we stay focused on the outcome of humility—the current and future favor of God upon our lives, fighting the drift of our selfish sin nature will be the most worthy and rewarding effort we will ever make.