Humility/Selflessness/Meekness
If we want to excel in God’s Kingdom, we must mortify the
very desire that He hates and that is Pride.
Pride distracts us from God’s glory and thus robs us of our
joy and effectiveness. This is why we must commit ourselves to humility in the
sight of God. Humility does not mean that we degrade our worth as a human being
made in the image of God, but rather it means that we accept that God is the
only being that deserves the full attention and admiration of His creatures;
all we have, even what we think is from our own doing, is a gift from God.
This means that we forfeit the “right” to think only about
ourselves and open ourselves up to God and what He is doing all around us as
well as through us. “Let nothing be done
through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man
also on the things of others.” Paul said in Philippians 2:3-4. This does
not mean that we neglect ourselves in service to others, but it means that our
delight as John Piper put it, to use his quote again, “joyfully meets the
needs of others.”