Morning Devotional

October  16, 2005
"A Good Race" (Part 16)     
    by Don Emmitte

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Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11 NLT).

God rewarded the humility of Christ. God will reward our humility as well. It is good for me to always keep this thought close to my mind. God is looking for places on earth where He can display His glory. God cannot display His glory somewhere that is seeking glory of its own.

If you and I want to make ourselves look good, if we want to pretend like or think that we are somehow wonderful on our own, then we are not going to be vessels through which God can display His glory. When we are empty of ourselves, without any hope on our own, we are in perfect positions for God to do His greatest work and receive all the glory.

Alex Haley, the author of ROOTS, has a picture in his office, showing a turtle sitting atop a fence. The picture is there to remind him of a lesson he learned long ago. He wrote: “If you see a turtle on a fence post, you know he had some help. Any time I start thinking, WOW, isn’t this marvelous what I’ve done! I look at that picture and remember how this turtle—me—got up on that post.”

Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all. Leonard Bernstein, the late conductor of the New York Philharmonic orchestra, was once asked to name the most difficult instrument to play. Without hesitation, he replied, “The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm—that’s a problem. And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.”

How are you doing displaying God’s glory? If the luster is not what it should be, try adding some humility to your life. Recognize that you are but dust of the earth, but that God is amazing. Give God the opportunity to display His glory in and through you!