Every year people make New Years resolutions to better themselves in some way. A lot of people want to lose weight or put more practice into a hobby. Many Christians vow to read their Bible daily, attend church more consistently or to pray more often. Most people fail to accomplish these resolutions fairly quickly which leads to scores of articles about how to stick with your New Year’s resolutions.
The world’s advice is to be more disciplined. If you are more focused on your goal or if you choose the right things more than the wrong things you will achieve every goal you set. Although there is truth to this, the Kingdom of God operates differently. In the Kingdom if you want more discipline, you must be more surrendered. If you want more for yourself, you must be generous. If you want to be greater, you must be more humble.
Humility is the key to unlocking the full power of the resurrection in your life. Do you want to be closer to God? Be humble. Do you want to grow in faith? Be humble. Do you want to grow in spiritual gifts? Be humble. Do you want to grow in empathy, love and compassion for others? Be humble.
The dictionary definition of humility is “having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s importance.” I don’t think this is quite right because you actually are important. You have incredible value and are created to be a blessing to others. I would change this definition to “having or showing a greater estimate of God’s importance over your own.”
By the time Paul was on his way to Rome, he was one of the most well known Christians in the entire world. He had planted many churches and set the world on fire everywhere he went, raising up leaders and displaying the power of God. He also had remained humble through all of this.
In Acts 27 Paul is being taken to Rome by a centurion to stand trial in front of Caesar. After they sailed for awhile, while they were in a port Paul tells the centurion in v 10, “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.” The centurion ignored him and listened to the captain of the ship.
Paul could have gotten upset about this. He could have thrown the “Do you know who I am?” card. He could have pleaded his case more fervently, or led a mutiny with the other sailors. He also could have become depressed or start to lose faith. He did none of this. Paul remained humble and said nothing more.
Of course, Paul was right. After the crew set sail they ran into a storm. The Bible records that the storm lasted for nearly two weeks, with no sign of the sun, until all hope was abandoned. Paul could have been cruel and mocked the centurion for not listening to him, but instead he waited on God.
Acts 27:21-26 says “After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”
It was at this point that the centurion listened to all of Paul’s instructions, over the course of several days, fighting the storm, trying to find land. In the end the ship was lost, but all 276 people on board were saved.
By this time in Paul’s life, he had sailed a lot. I’m sure he had some opinions about the route they should have taken and where they should had wintered. But notice that he never offered his opinion. He only spoke what God has spoken in this situation. If you are anything like me, obeying God over your own opinion is your biggest struggle.
Humility is the key. Whether everything is going well or whether everything is going poorly, your answers and blessing come from God. His is the voice you should listen to above all else. Humility is choosing to do just that.
