Pray:
King of Glory, You bowed down, laid in a feeding stall, and lived among the lowly, all to lift me up. Thank You.
Read:
Matthew 18:1-9
Reflect:
Do your values align with those of heaven?
Young children develop by copying adults, but even adults need godly role models if they are to grow to mature faith. Today's reading shows us that bad influences lead nowhere good for anyone concerned (6,7), so we need to ruthlessly apply preventive spiritual self-surgery to temptation (8,9). Thankfully, we can look to a role model par excellence in Jesus, who perfectly embodies humility and greatness, and prove that the "me first" culture of the world has nothing to compare with the depth, truth, sacrifice, and love of relationships in God's community.
So why is childlike humility so necessary in our response to Jesus (3,4)?
Humility means surrendering control. It's not easy to escape the snare of self, so we must seek to supplant self-preoccupation with a holy obsession with Jesus. God helps us, for in Jesus our old self is dead and we now have a glorious "new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator" (Col. 3:10). We become like our role model, Jesus, by fixing our eyes on him in all circumstances we face.
Apply:
In what ways do you still feel the tug of self-importance or pride? Come humbly as God's child to confess.
Pray:
I bow down, Lord, so that You might lift me up. Give me a heart to willingly go to the lowly as You did.
