WE MEDITATED YESTERDAY on: “In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God” (Rom. 15:17). We saw that pride can be redeemed when it is pride of what He is doing in and through us. That pride, glorying in Another, becomes humility. You can be humble only when you are conscious of being great. This verse illustrates that: “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet” (John 13:3–5). Knowing that all things had been given into His hands—conscious of being great with an ultimate greatness—all things into His hands—He could afford to be humble. Real humility is not rooted in a sense of humiliation; it is rooted in a sense of being inwardly great in Him. The little person doesn’t dare to be humble; it would give away his littleness. He has to act a part—a part of being great to compensate for his being small. The one who is truly great within doesn’t have to act a part; he has nothing to keep up; he is great—great by the grace of God in Christ, therefore he can do the menial.
I once secured a sweeper’s broom and cleaned the filthy toilet in a compartment in a train in India. Some Brahmins in the compartment, surprised, asked who I was. When I told them that I was a follower of Christ and that I had learned what I had just done from my stay with Mahatma Gandhi in his ashram, one of them replied, “That explains it.” In their eyes, that transformed it from being a degradation into being a sacrament, learned from Jesus and Gandhi. Jesus had cleansed the filth of my heart without being degraded, so in Him I could cleanse the filth of a toilet without being degraded. I was great by His grace, therefore I could afford to be small in this incident—out of gratitude.
O Divine Master, Thou who dost stoop to wash my feet, my hands, my heart, by Thy very doing this Thou dost make my knees bend, my heart bend—dost make me prostrate at Thy feet, for I see greatness become lowly—for my sake. Accept my gratitude. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: The little man is afraid to bend lest he expose his littleness.
