Forgiveness, the Humility of God

The humility of God is this: although God does not need us, we were created for the world, and the world is given to us, and no matter how much we please or displease God—saved or unsaved—we are never too far from divine fellowship.  Though God is infinitely above us, WE are created in God’s own image.  God shares with humanity what humanity was designed to share in.  God shares with us as if we are equals though we are NOT equals.  Most of all, God created us in love, and though we are fallen, God in Jesus humbled himself to come to us and to redeem us.  Even more, the Spirit of the Lord pursues us all our lives with divine peacemaking love that humanity cannot fathom and yet is blessed to emulate.  This is just a few snippets of the humility of God.

It is to THIS humility each of us is called.

The humility of God means 
we cannot “please” God to save ourselves, 
and our humility will attest to this fact.

~

Humility heralds the truth of an 
equalising justice that is from God.

Humility is an inherent equality.

We are to champion this humility.

HUMILITY OF INHERENT EQUALITY

Being that none of us is any better than anyone else, for we are ALL created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), the only time we find ourselves enemies with others in our spirit is when they see themselves as superior or entitled, by person, by position, by privilege, by performance—especially this latter one by partiality.  The opposite is also true.  When we act superior or entitled, we act as if we are better—and we are NOT—and this enmity against others and before God.

Again, we are ALL eternally equal before God.

By hyperbole, with enormous rhetorical intention, Jesus taught this equality in the “kingdom of heaven” in Matthew 11:11,

“Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

When I read this verse, I believe Jesus is saying that ALL are equal in the kingdom of heaven.  It inverts the concept of “greatness” in a way that cannot be otherwise understood by mortals.  The way Jesus communicates here and elsewhere subverts the confidence of those with so-called “worldly wisdom,” especially the self-appointed.

Jesus levels the playing field; 
“... knowledge puffs up while love builds up”
—1 Corinthians 8:1b.

Jesus proclaims an upside-down kingdom where “the least of these” are greatest (Matthew 25:40, 45), where those who exalt themselves are humbled, yet those who humble themselves are exalted (Luke 14:11), and those in humble circumstances have high position (James 1:9).

Jesus spoke in hyperbole for many reasons, not least to communicate that God cannot be mastered.  The test for our own hearts is whether we think we can match God.  A confirmation of our own hearts is how we feel about the person who thinks they can match God.  We naturally resist those who appear to prosper in their sinful pride.  Prospering in sinful pride is an anomaly, however, and God will rebuke it and correct it.

Forgiveness leaves another person’s sinful pride with God, 
as we give over our sinful pride of being threatened for theirs.

~

The test of forgiveness is this.  We can understand why it is easy to forgive the repentant person; why there is no excuse not to.  We can understand why it is harder to forgive the unrepentant person; why a felt injustice tempts a person to be embittered.  We can rejoice when forgiveness is easier.  We can reconcile that an unrepentant person needs our prayers; for them, that they don’t bring condemnation on themselves by continuing to fail love and resist God, and that they don’t continue to exasperate those they have harmed.

Part of our prayers is the heart that says, “I forgive the wantonness of this person who is behaving like a fool, understanding that—as EQUALS—I, too, behave like a fool at times.  Lord, open the eyes of this person’s heart so they may repent and receive Your acquittal as much as I pray that you keep the eyes of MY heart open.”  (See Psalm 139:23-24, an Awareness Prayer.)

We should hope others would pray this for us when we have shortness of spiritual insight.  That’s the humility we are invited to exhibit.  We ought not to forget how readily we, ourselves, miss the mark. Such continual remembering of this fact is a sign of humility.

HUMILITY AND FORGIVENESS OF BIBLE CHARACTERS

Joseph accepted the testing that resulted from his youthful bragging that was revealed as antagonising his brothers’ skulduggery (Genesis 37) and he responded wisely and humbly.  He was justified and positioned to forgive twenty-four years after he had been thrown into that pit and pronounced as dead to his father by his brothers.  Working within the mandate of God’s providence, Joseph learned, character-crafted humility held open the possibility for reconciliation with his brothers.

Job was a righteous man, but like Paul and everyone else, barring Jesus, he was not perfect.  Like us, at least most of the time, he reviled the testing.  Like Joseph, the purpose in the testing was to refine Job in humility—so he could understand and thereby accept who God IS.  A humbled, repentant Job, with no case against anyone—the personification of humility and forgiveness—is right before God in the end.

Jeremiah was harangued as most if not all truthtellers are.  Like Job, though he had done little wrong other than to utter the truth, the testing this faithful prophet endured ultimately made him a better, humbler person.

Paul struggled with the “thorn in his side,” “the messenger of Satan” (notice the parallel with Job chapters 1-2?).  Yet, he was not diminished by his weakness.  On the contrary, his weakness refined him.  It focused Paul’s countenance on Christ.  Weakness enabled Paul to draw on the strength of God bestowed in humility.  Though he contended with the church at Corinth, chastising them in loving discipline, the Corinthians were still his spiritual children.

And finally...

Jesus experienced testing not for the purpose of refinement, but of example—to show an ailing humanity HOW it is to live.  Jesus’ humble reliance on the Father was implicit in WHO Jesus is.  Coupling “being in very nature God” with “made himself nothing” on the cross (Philippians 2:6-8), Jesus is the author and perfecter of humility.

INSIGHT IS THE KEY TO HUMILITY AND FORGIVENESS

The key temptations in life get under our guard and hurt and then harden our hearts.  Hardness of heart leads to an incapacity to forgive.  The worst of it is an absolute loss of insight—that inability to see how merciful God has been with us.

But,

... insight is about seeing one’s truth.

Seeing one’s truth as it really is—as we ARE and as we are to, and with, others—and being honest about it, is how I would define insight.  The term “insight” is literally about having true sight, the ability to SEE, IN ourselves.  It is the key to both humility and forgiveness.

Insight, I would argue, is not only the key ingredient in what we would call “mental health,” it is also the key feature of humility and forgiveness in terms of self-accountability.  It is the key to being able to SEE the log in our own eye (Matthew 7:3-5), “throw[ing] off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” (Hebrews 12:1), and to act accordingly in repentance.

Thankfully, the conviction of the Holy Spirit 
motivates us to commit insight to action.

Doing what is right, no matter what it costs, relies on such insight to inspire conviction that sees us ACT on truth so that we would love our neighbour to the extent of forgiveness.

Insight, then, as the key feature of humility and forgiveness, leads to transformation and relational miracles, not least within us.  With insight we embody hope for reconciliation.

REPENTANCE – THE SIGN, EVIDENCE, FRUIT OF HUMILITY

The capacity for repentance is the evidence and a fruit 
of both humility and salvation.

Humility is a character trait.
Salvation, once claimed, is an eternal disposition and destination.

Though nothing else needs be done to be saved than BELIEVE—Jesus fulfilling the prophecies of the Messiah, the life and ministry of Jesus, the cross, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension, the coming and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and what these all mean in our lives—the sign, evidence, and fruit of humility is a soul’s declaration that salvation took place, and that LIFE exists in us.

The capacity for repentance is the clearest evidence 
that Christ is Lord in the individual.

It is the capacity for truth, for insight, to make peace, 
for transformation and eternal life.

Not only is repentance a sign, evidence, and a fruit of transformation and eternal life in a person, such humility sees to it that transformation ripples out into others’ lives.  These are nothing less than miracles in the abundant life Jesus promised would take hold in our lives.

The humble press in on forgiveness, but the conceited resist inquiry.
Humility is the bedrock of repentance.  

A heart receptive to repentance is what brings humbling about, 
and such humbling is central to forgiveness.

As we are made in the image of God who has the humility to forgive,
we also are made to emulate God’s humility, be humble, and forgive.

Blessed is the person who walks humbly with their God (Micah 6:8).