We’ve been exploring humility and how Jesus expressed it even while moving in great power, because even he was a vessel for the Father’s words and actions. He did not speak on his own, but at the impulse of his Father.
And he offers us the same relationship, as we see from this prayer which Jesus breaks into later in the dinner conversation at his last meal with his friends. By the way, when Jesus himself prays for you, it’s not wishful thinking. You take hold of it.
“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” John 17:22-23 (NASB)
Did you see that? As his disciples, Jesus has given us the Father’s glory! What does that mean?
I believe it means we are granted the same glorious relationship to God that Jesus has with his Father. When our heavenly Dad looks at us, his sons, he has all the same pride and joy that he does in Jesus. If that doesn’t make us feel silly for trying to glory in our fleshly selves, I don’t know what will. Even better, look at the results Jesus expects as we receive this glory.
First, that we’ll be perfected in unity. Yes, perfected by our oneness with God.
Second, that the world will know that God the Father sent Jesus.
Third, that the world will know that God loves us just like he loved Jesus.
Notice, Jesus does not expect that our receiving the glory of this relationship will make people glorify us. He doesn’t mention any fear that it will make us prideful. Quite the opposite. He expects that it will unify us, glorify God and expose his love to the world by exhibiting the way we can be a vessel for his holiness.
So that we can better walk in what Jesus has declared for us in prayer, lets realize:
Berating ourselves does not make us humble. It proves we are prideful. Attention to the flesh–our dead selves–is prideful, whether it manifests in self glorying or self-deprecating.
Attention to the spirit–God’s presence and movements inside and around us–whether it’s very powerful or very quiet, is humble because it is the manifestation of the glorious relationship Jesus has given us.
Jesus in us, and the Father in him.
I’m working with the Spirit to change a thought pattern and verbal expression of “self-deprecation”.
I appreciate the reminder here, that this thought pattern is prideful. And that attention to the Spirit is humble.