Something I’ve been learning in my first month in South Africa is the importance of giving God the glory over giving into self-gratification. The process of dying to my own desires for the sake of the Kingdom has not been an easy one, but it has shown me how to press into prayer and the Word, and learn about the roots of God’s character.
One of my favorite characteristics the Lord is revealing to me is his humility. In John 13, Jesus washes his disciples feet. Not because he felt he was lower than them, but because he knew his identity was in the Lord. The fact that God humbled himself to the form of a man and then proceeded to cleanse the feet of those who served him leaves me in awe and wonder of his love for us. He came here FOR us.
Repeatedly in the Gospels, Jesus says that “those who come first will be last, and last first”, so in this season of serving and pressing into a deeper relationship with the Lord, I’m learning more and more of how to be a servant first and have everything else come second. Jesus fully emptied himself on this earth, to the point of death, and even then he was still God, and he gave all of the glory to God.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s knowing who you are and your identity in Christ, and acting accordingly. My prayer for the weeks to come is that this aspect of the Lord’s character becomes deeply rooted in my soul, and that I continue to live out a life of dying to all of my desires for the sake of being a servant in the Kingdom of God.
