Three Words to Humble Us 

These identities are not mere labels, but realities which ought to make a practical difference in our attitude and walk.  Every identity scripture gives us is something which we ought to take time to learn about and then to reflect on in the course of life, that we may be “transformed by the renewal of our mind” (Rom. 12:2).

I was recently drawn to three identities that, as we appreciate them, help us to learn something of humility, a virtue that can sometimes feel unattainable (and perhaps especially so for young men!).

Creature

We are creatures and God is the creator. We have not made ourselves, nor can we remake ourselves. What a check this is on our ambition! As a creature, I realise that I am not God. I do not know everything; I cannot be everywhere; and there are things which are impossible for me (Mark 10:27). As a creature, I find that my creator has built into me limitations to which I must submit.

We must sleep. God has built us all differently, and with different capacities. Some of us can survive with less sleep than others, but most of us could really use more sleep than what we give ourselves (and some of us need a few naps as well!). It is true that there might be exceptional times to “burn the midnight oil” or “all night continue in prayer” (Luke 6:12). But in general, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” (Psalm 127:2). The need to sleep shouldn’t frustrate us, but it should humble us. This is God’s design, not Satan’s. This is not a waste of time, but merely a shift handover with God. To sleep is to confess that my energy is spent, and I can do no more but “cast all my care on him” (1 Peter 5:7). 

We have to eat too. That means we can’t spend all day in bible study, outreach, or pastoral work. Of those two-thirds of the day that we are awake, we must give time to grocery shopping (even if it’s online), to meal planning, to cooking, and lest we forget, to cleaning up. And all that food costs money too, so we’re going to have to spend a lot of time working for it, because “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). Do we believe that this is of God? Or just an inconvenience getting in the way of the “important” stuff? Nor is this just the result of sin in our world. But from the beginning “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Gen. 2:15). It is true that famine is the result of sin in the world, but the requirement to work to satisfy this creatorially-imposed need for food is nothing of the sort.

We could go on. More than physical needs, as a complex human creature we also have emotional needs. We need friends. We need to devote time to building intimate and supportive relationships with our brothers in Christ, for “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Pro. 18:24) and “Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.” (Pro. 27:9).

And we have not yet mentioned our spiritual needs. “Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deut. 8:3) Do we believe that we need God like we need food? He has created us in just such a way, and to ignore our creator’s intent will lead to ruin, like Israel who forsook the Lord, “the fountain of living waters” (Jer. 2:13).

‍Servant

Not only am I a creature by birth, but by new birth I am a servant. If I have received God’s offer of salvation in Christ, then I have also owned Christ as my Lord. I have placed myself in his service, to place the needs of God and others before my own, though we should serve “not under compulsion, but willingly” (1 Peter 5:2) and it should be Christ’s love for us which “compels us” (2 Cor. 5:14).

As young men who love the Lord, that compulsion might produce a lot of ambition to do great things for God. But ironically that ambition might cause us to forget that we are only the servants. We cannot take more control over or responsibility for the work than is fitting because the work we do is not our work. Yes, God has made us stewards (1 Cor. 4:1), but he remains the sovereign strategist who has said he “will accomplish all his purpose” (Isaiah 46:10). Though he has made us ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20), it is men’s judgement of Christ, not of us Christians, for which they will be judged (1 Sam. 8:7; John 15:18). Though he calls us to be “fishers of men” (Matt. 4:9), it is not we who save souls, for “salvation if of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). And though we might be carried away with our own ideas of how things “should” be done, we realise that our Lord has other servants, and they are not accountable to us (Mark 9:38-41; Romans 14:4). As we serve, may we not be overwhelmed by anxieties for the success of our work, or of all the things which are beyond our power to do. We are called to offer ourselves (Rom. 12:1), and not more than that. And may we not seek to exercise an authority beyond that which is given. In humility, may we recognise that the work is God’s, and he will do it.

Sinner

How can we ever forget this? Though washed in the blood, and clothed with the righteousness of God, we remain bound (for now!) in the flesh, in this body of sin. And sin we will. Often and grievously. What humility this demands of us. What constraint it imposes. It demands constant vigilance. We are not free to be careless, knowing that “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). It demands that we find ourselves frequently confessing to God and quickly apologising to others. (I wonder do we find this latter more difficult than the former?). And whatever good we might perceive in ourselves, we must confess that “it is God who works” (Phil. 2:13).

We are constrained also to endure with patience the sad groaning of the fallen world in which we live, whatever illness or hardship it brings upon us. We must confess that we can neither fix ourselves, nor fix the world. But we are left to wait for the redeemer who did what we could not do, the perfect man who died for sins. We cannot fix it, but he will. And praise God, he will fix us then also.

‍