Humble - Humility - Humiliation
Have you ever felt humiliated? Has someone ever humiliated you?
I, personally, live with a steady diet of humiliation. One of my favorite humiliating activities is falling down in public. In my dating years, I seemed to enjoy exclusively dating men who were not exclusively dating me. That, too, is an activity chock full of humiliation. I do a bit of public speaking, which also lends itself to lots of opportunities for humiliation. There are simply too many to count, but here’s one I’ll share.
Sometime during my late teens, my family and I attended a basketball game at a local college. The gym was in a building that was surrounded by an indoor track. When you left the gym, you walked through a doorway, across the indoor track, then through a second doorway that led to the restrooms and concessions. Each door was set in a single frame allowing the doors to close individually. As my family and I walked across the track, my mom pointed out the track team. While watching the collegiate athletes practice, we walked and talked about running form, stretching methods, and warm-up styles until BAM! I walked into the metal bar in the middle of the door frame. I was looking sideways, so I hit it square on the side of my face and front of my body. The metal bar was hollow so it responded with a resounding BANG! In true Nejezchleb fashion, my family laughed at me, teased me, and acted like they didn’t know me. I, in turn, got mad at them for not giving me a heads-up as I tended to the perfectly linear red welt quickly forming on the side of my face. Complete strangers tried not to make eye contact with me while simultaneously being overly curious about my survival status. I was fine, the pole was fine, and life went on, but the humiliation was real.
Some of us have many of these moments, others only have a few, but we all have experienced humiliation in some form or fashion. It is moments like these that make it difficult to understand how and why Jesus chose humility as one of his defining characteristics here on earth.
In Philippians 2:8, Paul writes:
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Jesus chose humility.
Can you imagine how differently the story would unfold if it read, “He proudly became obedient to death, even death on a cross.” The bible warns us against pride and the troubles that accompany it.
Whenever I had a bad day growing up, my mom would say, “You gotta have a bad day so you can recognize a good one.” Based on my mom’s philosophy, feeling humble is a sure-fire way to ward off pride.
Jesus choosing to be humble, makes me ponder:
Do I do my kingdom work with pride or humility?
Am I grateful for my humiliating experiences as opportunities to fend off pride?
How do I respond to Jesus in the midst of my humiliation?
As humans, we don’t like for people to notice our inadequacies, mistakes, or errors. We might even get mad at, blame, or direct our energies onto others in the midst of humbling experiences. Pride is a much more comfortable feeling for most of us. But God doesn’t call us to pride, he calls us to be humble.
Even though we might want to categorize humility into self-induced, others-induced, or degrees. Humility is humility. And in God’s eyes, it is good. It may not feel good, but it is up to us to find the good in it.
So this week, will you join me in embracing humility, humiliation, and the opportunities to be humble? Will you join me in embracing humiliation, even at the hands of another, even in the midst of inequality, even when layered with unfairness? Join me as I work to see humiliation through a lens of refinement and protection.
As parents, our children need to see us living a humble life, and hear us talk about our struggles with pride and humility. Children benefit from conversations about ways they, too, can embrace their real-life, humbling moments through a lens of gratitude, refinement, and protection.
God, thank you. Thank you for reminding us of the true value of humiliation. Thank you for helping us ward off our daily struggles with pride. Thank you for sending your son, not only to save us but to model true humility through his life here on earth. You love us so much that you protect us, desire us, and refine us through all our experiences. We ask that you continue to provide us with exactly what we need to continue to serve you, fulfill our kingdom work, and stay humble.