The Danger of Pride

Pride is a very dangerous thing.

We’re all tempted by it, especially those of us who are hard workers and high achievers. It’s so easy to look at the good results we obtain at school or at work and to be happy when other people notice and appreciate our efforts. From there, we may soon start craving the approval and the compliments of others so that we can feed our self-esteem and feel better about ourselves. Being praised, and being the centre of attention, can really get addictive, and most of us don’t stop even for a second to consider that every good performance of ours, every task we successfully accomplish, is because of the gifts and abilities that God gave us. He allowed us to use our skills not to gain glory for ourselves and be admired, but to serve and be useful to those that He places in our lives.

Just yesterday I was about to start an English class with a young student of mine.

I’m one of those teachers who obsess over planning their lessons down to the most minute of details, so this time I had prepared a whole array of activities for us to do together, and I have to admit that I was quite pleased with myself.

Look at me, with my nice lesson plan all laid out, my worksheets ready to be used, a few revision questions to be asked at the beginning of class… I couldn’t have done better, could I?

Well, it turns out I’d got so deep into my “perfect teacher” mode that I’d forgotten how much my young student loves making crafts, and yesterday being our last class before a holiday, I should have thought about teaching him to make some decorations for his bedroom. I remembered how his little face lights up when he sees he’s able to create something beautiful, how happy he is about using his manual skills in a creative way. I quickly found a tutorial for an easy craft and I started off my class with that.

Needless to say, he was delighted and did a very good job, and I can honestly say that I was much happier seeing how engaged he was and how much he loved the final result than I would have been if I had stuck to my original plan. I was happy because my choice had made someone I love happy.

Christ’s Example of Humility

Today’s passage is part of a longer section (Philippians 2:5-11), where Paul focuses on Christ’s humility and selflessness.

The apostle Paul is urging the Philippians to have the same mindset as Jesus, which is one of humility, self-sacrifice, and service to others. Verses 6-7 highlight how Jesus chose to relinquish all the privileges that came with His divine nature for humanity’s sake. In doing so, Jesus gave us the perfect example of humility, because he literally “emptied himself” by becoming human.

Paul says that He was “in the form of God”, meaning that He possessed the very nature and essence of God. In other words, He is fully divine and existed in the same nature as God before His incarnation. However, even though He shared in God’s divine glory, Jesus didn’t see His equality with the Father as something to be “grasped”.

He didn’t hold onto it for His own advantage. His love for us was so deep that he chose to let go of His divine rights and privileges. In doing this, he showed His selflessness and His willingness to prioritise God’s will over His own divine status. This made it possible for God to carry out His redemptive plan and save mankind from the consequences of sin. 

What It Means to “Empty Himself”

The term that Paul uses when he says that Jesus “emptied Himself” is a very weighty one. It means “to pour out”, or “”to make oneself nothing”. It’s important to remember that in emptying Himself, Jesus did not cease to be divine, but He voluntarily set aside His divine privileges so He could be fully human. He basically laid aside His right to glory, omnipotence, and honour, which allowed Him to fully identify with humanity, to experience life the way we do, with all the limitations that accompany it. 

Jesus Understands Our Suffering

How often, when burdened by something that’s happening in our life, we reply to someone who’s trying to comfort us: “Oh, you don’t know what it’s like, you’ve never been through something like this!”.

It is indeed very difficult to fully grasp what someone else is experiencing if we’ve never been where they are. We may do our best to sympathise with their situation, but our understanding will necessarily be limited, and this will limit our ability to comfort them. This will never happen between us and Jesus, though, because He lived in this world and shared our experience as human beings in everything, except sin.

He knows and experienced it all, even things which – thankfully – most of us will never have to go through: joys, sorrows, grief, enemies who hated Him, friends who loved Him, friends who disappointed and even betrayed Him, physical pain to the point of torture, the feeling of being apart from God, the most humiliating, horrible death we can imagine.

All of that for our sake, because of His immense love for us. In coming into the world, He took “the form of a servant”, serving others instead of seeking to be served, which would have been in His full right to demand, given His equality with God the Father. His willingness to serve humanity was radical, and culminated in His sacrificial death on the cross.

A Prayer for Humility

Lord Jesus, thank You for Your perfect example of humility and selflessness. Thank You for coming into this world “in the likeness of men”, which allowed You to fully empathise with our struggles and weaknesses and to connect with us in such a deep, meaningful way. Please, help me be more like You, Lord.

I want to empty myself as much as possible and to fill my spirit with Your truth, Your love, Your willingness to humbly serve others. Help me prioritise my brothers and sisters’ needs over mine, Lord Jesus. Help me overcome my desire to be praised and admired and my tendency to take pride in my accomplishments, because I am nothing and I can do nothing without You.

Thank You for showing me that counting on my own strength and ability will lead me nowhere, and that serving others in humility is the highest calling and the source of the most perfect joy I can imagine.

Amen.