As we think of the beauty and loveliness of Christ, it raises the question as to what we love about Christ. If we only love what He has done for us, then we must ask ourselves if we only love Him for what we perceive as love for us. Jesus told us that even sinners love those that love them back (Luke 6:32). But as we go on, do we love the humility of Christ? We may wonder at it some, but do we love Him as the display of perfect humility? We may love what His humility did or at least enabled Him to do, that is, in humility He went to the cross, but do we love humility itself? Do we long for the emptiness of self-love and self-centeredness enough that we long for the humility of Christ to live and dwell in us? Do we really desire the life of Christ in our soul if it means that we are to be humble as He was humble? There is no such thing, after all, as being like Christ apart from having the humility He had in us. The Christ who lived humility on earth will live humility in the souls of His people.
The heart of Christianity is the life of Christ in the soul of human beings, and yet that life cannot be in our soul apart from humility. Again, Colossians 1:27 should rivet us to the pages of Scripture in awe and make us wonder at the great blindness of those who cannot see this vital point of it all. “To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” This great mystery was hidden from the prophets of old, but it has now been revealed. This great mystery is all about Christ in the soul. He who is the very shining forth of the glory of God is the very hope of glory. Yet this glorious Lord Jesus Christ in the soul was also perfectly humble and will work the glory of His humility in all those that He dwells in. In fact, there is also no holiness in the soul apart from the life of Christ so apart from the emptiness of the soul to self the soul will not have any true holiness.
This drives us to ask us that if it is true that the very heart of Christianity is the life of Christ in the souls of human beings, then the absence of humility is the very absence of the heart of Christianity. There is no divine life in the soul apart from a humble soul. We should wonder at the depths of false teaching and practice that Christianity has sunk into precisely because it has not sunk into the depths of true humility. Humility is not just something that anyone can put on, but it is the emptiness of self and the life of Christ in the soul and that cannot happen apart from the grace of God. It is because humility is beyond the power of man that so many hate it and try to change what it is into something they can keep or do.
It is no wonder that if the American version of Christianity is missing the very heart of true Christianity that true religion is missing in this nation today. Instead of the humility of Christ being the life of the soul, we have the religion of self being the engine that drives religion today. True Christianity with the Divine life of Christ is nothing remotely like any version of Christianity without the Divine life of Christ even though it may use His name a lot. There is no true Christianity apart from the life of Christ in the soul and there is no true Christianity apart from the Spirit dwelling in human beings. These are essential to the New Covenant and to the Gospel. Yet apart from humility those things are doctrines that reside in the brains of men rather than a Christ who abides in the hearts of them. A version of Christianity, regardless of how orthodox it is in creed, that does not stress the Divine life in the souls of men is a perversion of true Christianity rather than a version of it. It is no wonder that what is called Christianity in our day is so weak as to be sneered at rather than admired.
The humble Jesus loved and sought the glory and honor of God in all that He did because He had the Divine life in Him. But can you honestly say that the life you live is Christ that is flourishing in you? Could it be true that the life that is lived in you is really the life of self and that being true even in the things of religion? Apart from true humility the things of self can flourish in true religion and that even in conservative and orthodox religions too. Apart from humility all things are done for self and intended for self though the name of Christ is on the lips. This is so much like the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 7: "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 "Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 "And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’” These were people who spoke much of Christ, were orthodox, and some were involved in preaching while others even performed miracles. They were full of self rather than Christ. They did not have the Divine life and humility but instead were full of self and the religion of self.
God Loves... Himself 
Leave a comment