Pulverized in His presence

"For though the Lord is exalted, yet He regards the lowly; 

but the proud and haughty He knows from afar." 

psalm 138:6

"Crawl into caves in the rocks. 

Hide from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty. 

The day is coming when your pride will be brought low 

and the Lord alone will be exalted." 

isaiah 2:10-11 NLT

"For thus says the high and exalted one who lives forever, 

whose name is Holy, 

I dwell on a high and holy place, 

and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit 

in order to revive the spirit of the lowly 

and to revive the heart of the contrite." 

isaiah 57:15

"Thus says the Lord, 

'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool, 

where then is a house you could build for me?

And where is a place that I may rest? 

For my hand made all these things, 

thus all these things came into being," declares the Lord.  

"But to this one I will look, 

to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, 

who trembles at my word."

isaiah 66:1-2

"On that day you will no longer need to be ashamed, 

for you will no longer be rebels against me. 

I will remove all proud and arrogant people from among you. 

There will be no more haughtiness on my holy mountain. 

Those who are left will be the lowly and humble, 

for it is they who trust in the name of the LORD."  

zephaniah 3:11-12 NLT  

Man prefers his own importance, not only in the company of his own kind, but also in his religion. He places value on whatever he brings to the object of his faith, whether it be to God, to a god, to mankind or himself.
God says, what could you possibly bring to me that I didn't already make? You cannot approach me as if you were rich with things that could make you more valuable in my sight.
Your attitude is all wrong.
This is how you should come to me: humble, contrite and trembling.

contrite: crushed to powder, as in pulverized

"God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble"
"humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and He will exalt you." James 4:6, 10
"You younger men likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:5

God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Where did Peter and James get that phrase? The translation is a little more concise and modern than the original, but they seem to have borrowed it from the book of Proverbs.
"Though He scoffs at the scoffers and scorns the scorners, yet He gives His undeserved favor to the low, the humble and the afflicted." proverbs3:34-35

What does my pride get me?
It gets me God on the opposing team, it gets me far from Him, it gets me banished from His Holy mountain.

I wonder that I'm not more scared at the exclusion of the proud and exclusive entry of the humble, wonder that I don't tremble more at the prospect of the severity of God's judgment on the proud.
But I do think, uh-oh, I better put on more humility, just to be on the safe side, you know.

When posed with the problem of his ministry success shifting to another (John the Baptist's disciples were making the comparison between him and Jesus), John replies "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven." john 3:27
In the end, "He must increase, but I must decrease," he says.

It is often an unbearable humility to know that you have depended on the charity of another for everything that you have, to conclude that, without the help of a benefactor, you are impoverished.
We are not into shrinking so much that we become invisible, reducing so much that we become insignificant, emptying so much of ourselves that we are no longer seen. We are too proud to be empty handed.

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God; did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." philippians2:3,5-7

Is humility something I acquire, something I can increase, or is it achieved in the reverse by emptying myself? Is it possible to be humble without being emptied, without being crushed?
Am I humble if I still think I have something to offer God, even if what I think I have to offer is humility?

I have a sneaking suspicion that my flesh might just make a costume of humility and slip it over my pride. Unless I choose to decrease, to be pulverized, I'm in danger of reverting to my natural inclination to improve on myself. I think the High and Exalted One who lives forever will see right through that disguise, don't you?

It is only the lowly that will be with Him in that high place, only the contrite that will dwell in His presence, only the humble who will call Him Holy.

elachistoteros

"He that is proud eats up himself: pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle." 
William Shakespeare

I was reading in chapter 3 of Ephesians not long ago and came across verse 8 where Paul says he is less than the least of all the Lord's people. What an odd and illogical thing to say, I thought. How can something be less than the least? The phrase caught my attention, but I was later frustrated to read other versions which said "the very least of all saints" or "the least deserving of all God's people". This didn't sound as catchy, didn't fit with my thought on humility as I originally anticipated. So which one is it, I wondered.

My Greek knowledge is really on the level of something like Biblical Greek for Dummies, but I must go to Greek if I am to avoid one of my pet peeves, the folly of extracting some special point off of a specific phrase only to find the translation unreliable and not accurate to the original intent, and thereby making mute of the wonderful lesson that I had imagined to be there.

To Greek I went and in this case I was thrilled by what I found.

Paul used one word for this phrase, elachistoteros, which was said to be improper grammar for prose. Hmmm...that made me ask myself if Paul might not have invented a word here much like Shakespeare did with the English language in the 16th century.
His improper use of grammar was adding a comparative to a superlative, like combining lower and lowest together. Aha! That meant that "less than the least", or smaller than the absolutely smallest, was exactly what Paul was saying. It seems he couldn't find a regular word to say how low he was willing to go, so he had to make one up. He is emphatically emphatic that he is lower than the lowest, and therefore no one can get below him.
Paul creates a single word, "elachistoteros", that perfectly describes the mindset of humility that we should be striving for.

If I were to think of this striving as a competition, I would be striving to go lower than you.
Imagine if we were fighting each other for the lowest position rather than the highest or higher one. What kind of attitude would I have if I was always trying to out do you for the lowest position. Instead of always "one upping" you, I would be "one undering" you.

Hey, maybe I should coin a new word!

one-undering: the act of always seeking to be lower than the lowest.

Naahh, it will never catch on.

Prickled Pride

My Pride is a very sensitive thing, full of nerve endings and prickle points. It hurts when others make me feel insignificant or invisible. It hurts when I don't get my way, or don't get to do what I want. At one time or another, I think every one of my pride's feelings have been hurt, and many times I have had to rise up in defense of my delicate sensitivities.

Did you know that offense is the mark of a proud man? I'm not talking about the offender here; I'm saying that pride prompts the offendee. Think back to the last time you were offended. Not sure when that was?
Well, think about the last time you got angry, felt your blood boil, got your feelings hurt. Did someone or something offend you? I bet you thought you were completely within your rights to be offended, that the other person was solely responsible for the offense. Did it ever occur to you that being offended was your choice, that you could choose to let it go? What makes letting go of an offense seem so impossible? Isn't it really all about your pride?
I know.
The idea prickles.

And another thing.

When my pride is pricked with my failure to be as good as I thought I was, I'm brought down by guilt and shame, and even though this feels low, it's not the real thing.
And when my pride is pricked by fear that others don't think as highly of me as I would like them to, I sink low into self-pity and self-loathing, but my slime pit does not make me humble.
And when my pride is pricked by weakness, my flesh would rather choose defeat than be broken by God. Defeat may knock me down, but it is not humility.

Offense, hurt, guilt, shame, self-pity, self-hate, defeat are all humility knock-offs, produced by my flesh to  avoid paying the high cost of true humility, to keep me from dying to self.

Paul prickles my pride when he scolds the Corinthians for taking each other to court and bringing up lawsuits. He suggests, "Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?" (1corinthians6:7)
Have you ever been wronged, cheated, robbed, deprived of what is your due? First thing you wanted to do was lay down and let the other person win.
Oh, it wasn't?
Really Paul, this is a hard pill to swallow, how in the world can I let others think I'm wrong when I know I'm right!

Jesus said, "you have heard it said 'an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'
Well, I say, do not resist him who is evil;
but if he slaps you on your right cheek, offer him the other one.
And if he wants to sue you for the shirt on your back, give him your coat too.
And if he forces you to go one mile, you go two miles." (matthew5:38-41)

And if you are falsely accused, beaten, tortured, mocked, forced to carry your own cross to your execution, then use your last breaths to plead for their forgiveness.

Next time you get your "feelings hurt", see it as an opportunity to take up your cross, as a chance to die.

Low is the new High

Instinctively, we know that it is better to be at the top than at the bottom. To rise up in status is honoring, while going down is humbling. So we honor what elevates and despise what humiliates.

"But I don't have to be at the top," you say, "as long as I'm not at the bottom."
Doesn't that count as humility?
Surely that must mean I'm not proud.

Jesus told this story to some who trusted in their own goodness and looked down on others who weren't as good as them.
There were two men who went to the Temple to pray, one was a pharisee (the audience cheers), and the other was a dishonest tax collector (boo).
The pharisee stood and prayed to himself.
'O God, thank you that I am not like other people, especially like that tax collector I saw come in with me! I could never be like him, cause I never cheat, or sleep around, I fast twice a week, and I am faithful to give you the exact amount of money you ask for.'
But the tax collector stood off to the side and wouldn't even lift his head towards heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying 'O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.'
When Jesus was finished with the story he asked, "whose prayer did God hear, which man walked away justified?"
It wasn't the Pharisee!
By the way, did you notice to whom he was praying?
So Jesus concludes with this point, "For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted." luke18:14

The proud man thinks himself in right standing with man and before God, he sees himself higher than some and scorns those who are lower.
The humble man sees himself a sinner, unworthy of standing before God. He bows low to the ground, where he cannot appreciate whether his position is elevated or how it relates to others. His humble state comes from his mind, not from his status among men.

Humility is not displayed by an attitude of self-degradation.
Simply saying, "I'm just not good enough for that place of honor" doesn't imply that the flesh agrees. The one who speaks this way may, in fact, lament his own inadequacies only because it has been thrust upon him by others. Inwardly, he really believes himself to be capable of much more and longs for others to see that as well. Or he believes that appearing humble will elevate him in the eyes of others.

This need to boost ourselves is an auto-pilot reaction to the downward pull of humility.

When does humility get you down? Do you feel humiliated when you make mistakes, when you fail, when you're ashamed, rejected, overlooked, when you are wrong, when you lose, when someone else is better than you, when you get a low grade, when you say something wrong, when others criticize you, mock you, when you feel stupid?

Does humility pull you down when you are treated unfairly, misjudged, when someone yells at you, when you are not the best, the smartest, the prettiest, when you are passed over for a position, when you have to take the second best, when another person is praised, when you aren't the center of attention, when your kids misbehave, when you feel unwanted, excluded, aren't asked or needed, when your contribution goes unrecognized, when you aren't consulted, or chosen, when you feel useless, feel like a burden?

Are you familiar with these tugs of humility? How often do you feel the pull? Maybe your tugs look different from these. Whatever the case, humility gets you down. The problem is that what humbles us does not make us humble.

I am not content to stay down. I will squirm and whine, get angry, expend tons of effort to improve myself, make it every priority to get back up to where I perceive I once was or want to be in order to be okay with who I am. I will not rest until I am up there again. I will repeatedly frustrate myself with "why" questions, with why am I not the favorite, why was she chosen over me, what does she have that I don't? Why did they laugh at her story and not mine? Why did they take her suggestion and not mine?

Pride hates the things that humble us, hates the failures, the features, hates the things that hold us back from rising. Loathing what humbles you does not make you humble; it is a fleshly reaction to being humbled.  Pride motivates you to hate yourself, and this will not produce humility of mind. Self-hate is just a twisted form of self-love.

Humility has the simplest of meanings, low, and haughty simply means high.
Low and high are not difficult concepts.

Think about those things that take you up, that elevate your status, that make you better, that keep you from being at the bottom, that thankfully keep you from being the worst. Things like being in a relationship, education, friends, ministries, salary, approval of those you admire, what others say about you, being admired, being liked, being perfect, being the leader, the confidant, the favorite, the wise one, the chosen, being talented, top of your class, spiritual gifts, appearance, your social network, # of retweets. Do any of these things pull you up when you've been knocked down? Does the lack of any of these test your humility?

What traits elevate a people in your eyes, cause you to want to be like them? Are they creative, funny, cool, witty, are they confident, logical, smart, do they hold a position like president, doctor, executive, manager, department head, are they opinionated, cutting edge, trendsetter, outspoken, powerful?
Do you perceive some people as better than others? Do you look up to famous singers, conference speakers, preachers, authors? Do riches, possessions, name brand clothes, accessories, car or house make a person seem more worthy of your attention? Does popularity, friends, rugged good looks, beauty, appearance increase one's value? Does the person in a relationship receive more honor than one who is not?

Take a close look at those things that elevate others, because those are the things you value, the things that you desire in order to feel better about yourself. Some of these people will elevate you just by being in their presence, being accepted by them, being included in their inner circle. Others will have the opposite effect, eroding your sense of worth and value. You will find yourself hating on them, wanting to bring them down a few notches.

Who assigns value to people or things? Value is determined by what someone is willing to pay for an item; the amount spent sets the worth of the thing that is bought. How much are you worth? The cost of redemption, the cost of buying you back, was determined by your Creator. Imagine the value set by the price that Christ paid for you and me. On second thought, don't even bother, because you can't dream up a worth that comes within light years distance of reaching the edge of the immense value that Christ paid for you.

And yet, we practice the folly of elevating!

When we exalt one over another, we are exchanging God's determined value with one of our own. I want you to let that sink in for a moment, because, this is so second nature to us, we play this ludicrous game in our sleep.
I'm shocked at myself that I even consider this!
Any value I can assign is so obscenely inferior to God's, that to deposit a penny of His worth in the bank would make us millionaires by comparison, and even then, a penny fails in this analogy to demonstrate the true dimensions of disproportion between the value I have in Christ and the value I gain by those things I perceive that make me better.

"Do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, 'you sit here in a good place', and you say to the poor man, 'you stand over there, or sit down by my footstool', have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?" james2:1-4

To seek to elevate either myself or others is a dangerous game of arrogance, requiring an attitude of superiority, and, according to James, is pure evil. Any attempt at elevating, whether myself or the elevation of others, cannot help but force someone to be below. To make others into celebrities has, as an inevitable result, to make others into peasants. This is not glorifying to God! It assigns a value, a glory to another that is idolatry.

If you find yourself looking down on anyone, you have succeeded in putting yourself higher than the Lord would have you to be. The Lord says if you want to be great you have to lower yourself to serve, if you want to be exalted, go low to the lowest.
Low is the new high.
How do you like the view?

I am a rock

I like to argue, a little too much. My dad used to say that I would make a good lawyer. I'm not so attached to my principles as you might think, though, I argue because I like to be right.
Oh yes, I like to be right, because Being Right elevates me, gives me a lift. When you disagree with me you have knocked me down and I need to get back up on my high seat. I'm not interested in you being right, because I don't want you up there on my mountain, in my elevated place.

When it came time to divvy out jobs, I always wanted the ones that seemed more fun or cool or had more potential for recognition. If someone stood up in church to praise Sunday School teachers, then I wanted to teach Sunday School. If others were recognized for their servant like behavior, I suddenly wanted to wash dishes for the Lord.
Why did I want those positions? For the same reason that it is so humbling to do jobs beneath our level of expertise. Our jobs define us, they can elevate or humiliate us.

Jesus is invited to dinner on a Sabbath by a Pharisee who parades a sick man in front of him, to see if his compassion will win out over the Law. All eyes are watching him closely, but what they don't realize is that Jesus is watching them and has noticed that all who had been invited to the dinner were picking out the places of honor. So after he heals the man, he gives them this advice through a parable.

'If you are invited to a wedding feast, don't always head for the best seat. What if someone more distinguished than you has also been invited? What then? The host will have to come to you and say, 'This important person needs to have your seat, please move.  Imagine how embarrassed you will be and by then you will have to take whatever seat you can get, probably at the foot of the table!
Instead, when you come, sit at the foot of the table. That way, when the host sees you, he will say, 'My dear friend, we have a much better place for you than this!' Think of how honored you will be in front of all the other guests.
"for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted."
luke14:11
Then Jesus turned to the host of the party who seemed to have invited a room full of self-important people.
When you throw a party, he says, don't invite friends, relatives, rich neighbors and dignitaries, don't invite people who can repay you, but instead invite the poor, crippled, blind and lame. In other words, invite the lowest of society, the ones who can't repay you, that way you will be repaid in the resurrection.
The guests were too high in their estimation of themselves, the host sought too much exaltation from the guests he chose to invite.

The truth is I'm most content when I'm up, when I'm being valued, and when I'm not, my pride seeks to console me by reminding me that I'm better than that.

Remarkably, we've come full circle.
What we have been working to expose on the surface, the shape of what makes us feel good about ourselves, of what gives us value, mimics the shape of what is underneath, the shape of our foundation. This is the rich soil for pride's roots. Anything that gives you value outside of Christ elevates you and pride puts a root there. The more things you rely on for your self-worth, the more invasive is your pride. It is not okay to leave pride alone. These roots affect your life daily. Pride motivates you to impress others, to imitate all that seems good to you. Don't be fooled. Eventually, the good crumbles and out of the soil of your flesh comes all the ugly manifestations that we looked at in the beginning of this book.

The most accurate instrument for measuring value outside of Christ is the motion sensor.
You are on a swing and your chains are made up of those things that make you feel good about yourself. As with a pendulum, movement from either direction starts the swing, whether the push comes from feeling good or feeling bad. Your true value in Christ is best measured by the complete absence of swing. Even the slightest movement away from your center in Christ, in whichever direction you choose, is a fluctuation away from your value in Christ. It is simple. When your ALL is all in Christ, your ALL is at the center of the Rock, and that Rock will not budge.
My life in Christ is like a rock.
A rock will not float.
A rock is impervious to hot air.

I've begun to analyze the movements of my pride, and am finding that humility has only one setting, "rock bottom". I'm a floater, not a sinker. I seem to be a balloon full of hot air, constantly trying to rise up. I keep pumping helium into my value, inflating my ego with importance, boosting my self-esteem.

My motion sensor needs a new calibration, one that will detect any vertical movement upward. Any movement upward, no matter how insignificant it may seem to me, is a move away from humility, a move away from my value in Christ.  Any movement upward is a result of pumping my pride. Any movement upward will automatically bump someone else down.

How sensitive is your motion sensor?
Are you aware of when your value begins to swing, sensitive to the movement?
Do you long to be elevated?
Do you need a little lift now and then to feel okay or worthwhile?
What do you think of those you serve? Do you see them as beneath you, or yourself as better?
How do you feel about serving people who think they are better than you?
What do you do when you feel inferior? Do you put others down or mock them? Do you use their weaknesses to make you feel better about yourself?
Do you look for those with whom by comparison, you will feel superior?

In whose eyes do you want to be seen high? What about the people above you, do you want them to see you rising? Do you want to be exalted by those below you?

What about in God's eyes? How does He see you? Does He know the height of your pedestal? Does He take note of your elevation? Is it even possible to be elevated in God's eyes?

Actually, it is, but not by going in the direction you would imagine.
Jesus showed us a completely different way.
He showed us that in God's eyes, you move up by going down, by going low.