It is a fact that Jesus was the most humble man to have ever and will ever walk the earth.
Think about it.
His home was the kingdom of heaven. His father was the all perfect, loving, and knowing God. He sat exalted on the throne. He had everything he needed and more.
You truly cannot get any better than that. But Jesus chose, out of complete obedience of His Father, to leave. He left his home. He left the authority of His reign. He left the comfort of having anything he ever needed. He left his own Father.
Saying goodbye to my parents for nine months was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I have an amazing relationship with them and miss them terribly. But I cannot imagine saying goodbye to the Heavenly Father. Knowing the sweet goodness of His presence and then leaving must have been unbearable.
But Jesus left it all, ultimately humbling himself by taking on the form of a human. He became flesh. Not only that, but he became the most humbling and vulnerable form of flesh-a baby.
He knew his future. He knew the plan. He knew he was going to suffer in every single way possible. He knew he would be mocked, despised, and denied. He knew he would die the worst death possible having done nothing to deserve it.
But he also knew it would be worth it. He knew leaving the comforts of his home and father for a time was worth it. He knew suffering and dying the ultimate death would be worth it.
Because Jesus chose to humble himself, we now have the opportunity to receive the presence of God. We now have the opportunity to live life after death in the Kingdom.
Saving the world was not the only thing Jesus did. He also came to show us how to be saved and how to live.
Notice I used the word show. He did not come to tell us how to live, but he showed us how to live.
Jesus took on flesh to experience what we experience and set the example of how to be.
I like to think that I’m in somewhat the same instance Jesus was in. God told me to leave my home, family, and comforts, completely abandoning myself for His glory. I may not suffer the way Jesus did, but I do sleep on the ground and shower out of the bucket of water we flush our squatty potty with. I am living in a small rustic shack with no A/C in the middle of Asia. I don’t feed 5,000 people or preach to multitudes on the daily, but I do strive to set an example of how a Christ follower should live. In any opportunity, I try to point others to Christ.
A lot of people question why I’m doing the race. They wonder why I left the comforts of home to go live like the least.
This is the best answer I can come up with:
Jesus did it.
He sacrificed himself and suffered for the glory of God. I’m doing this because Jesus did it. I’m choosing to sacrifice my comfortable life to bring glory to God. Although I do get to see and experience really cool things on the race, that’s not why I did it. The race is actually extremely hard and not as sexy as it is portrayed to be.
I’m simply doing the race for the sole reason of God told me to. He told me to leave my home, family, and friends. He told me to live nine months uncomfortable and suffer for his glory. He told me to give my time and energy so he could use me to reach others. And every day He tells me it’s worth it. After all Jesus did for me, how could I not obey?
Jesus came to earth, humbling himself because God told him to. I’m just following Christ’s footsteps. This is what true Christ followers do; we follow Him.
It’s simple really, I’m doing this because Jesus did it.
