Cultivating Humility

We take our text today in 1st Peter chapter 5 and verse 6, a text that I tagged in the year 2010 for potential sermon development and the time has come for that to take place. The text says, therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. And for God's people to cultivate humility. Pride characterizes our condition from our physical birth. Humility reflects our condition following the new birth.

Pride flows from our natural state as sons and daughters of Adam. Humility reflects the work of God's Spirit to conform us to Jesus Christ. Apart from the new birth, pride dominates and humility is elusive. Because of the new birth, humility is possible, desirable, and to some degree inevitable.

And may by God's grace, it increase in that degree in our lives. Humility requires the work of the indwelling Spirit of God and humility requires our cooperative response to that work of God's Spirit within us. Humility is a very challenging area for our endeavor and today's text is designed to help us with that challenge.

And so I see four parts in our text today. Number one, the reason for cultivating humility. Number two, the requirement to cultivate humility. Number three, the recognition of why we should cultivate humility. And number four, the reward for doing so.

The reason, the requirement, the recognition, and the reward. And the reason is bound up in that opening word, therefore. Therefore, humble yourselves unto the mighty hand of God.

And therefore always points us back to something that went before. And when we come to the therefore, we are coming to a conclusion. We are coming to something that is built upon statements that have preceded that word therefore.

And so what is the reason for this therefore in this particular text? Therefore, humble yourselves unto the mighty hand of God. And we might ask wherefore should we humble ourselves unto the mighty hand of God? Why should we humble ourselves unto the mighty hand of God?

And there are some reasons suggested in the context that lies before. We should humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God because of the divinely established principle of authority. We read in verse five, likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Now in verses one through four, we find some instructions to elders. And there the elders are viewed as, the word elder is utilized to describe the pastors of the church, those who are given responsibility for overseeing the flock, shepherding the flock of God, taking the oversight thereof. And so elders as overseers, and there are a couple of cautions there, responsibility is given, a measure of authority is given, but nevertheless we are told in this passage that elders are to be careful not to exercise that authority in the manner of lords over God's heritage. Spiritual authority in the church is not carried out in the prideful manner that authority is carried out in the world, this overbearing authority, this overbearing lording it over others.

And a second caution has to do with the mutual submission, which we'll get to in a moment. But even as elders are overseers, and the implication is certainly clear that the members of the congregation should acknowledge and recognize their authority and submit to it according to godly guidelines. Similarly, we are told, and that's where the implication becomes very obvious, likewise, we read in verse five, you younger people submit yourselves to your elders.

The word likewise indicates that there's a similarity here. Like church members should submit themselves to the divinely appointed authority of elders or pastors, so younger people in the church in a similar fashion must submit themselves to their elders, and here the word elder is not used in the technical sense of the office of elder, but is used as the older members of the congregation. In contrast with the younger people, in every congregation there are some who are younger and there are some who are older. You say, where does that line get crossed? What age moves you from younger to elder? The answer is the Bible doesn't tell us, but we all know that it is true. Very simply, whoever is older than you are is your elder.

That makes it real simple. And so there's a responsibility here for younger people to submit to this divine order and to demonstrate submission to it. Now this is a very strange concept in America in the 21st century. The whole idea of submission to authority is very much resisted and challenged, and this old-fashioned idea of younger people showing humility and deference and a level of submission to their elders is also a very strange idea in our day, but that wasn't a strange idea in the days of our grandparents. In those days everybody understood that younger people were deferential toward their elders. They respected them.

They stood up when elderly people came into the room. They treated them with respect. They submitted themselves at least to some level to those who were older than they were. And all of this reinforces the fact that in God's ordering of society there is divinely appointed authority. There is a level of authority for the elders who are pastors in the congregation that should be recognized and submitted to. There is even a level of authority, not the same, not the exact same authority, but still nevertheless a recognizable level of authority that just applies to those who are older, who need to be respected and listened to by the younger members of the congregation. And that precedes the command to cultivate humility in verse 6. And furthermore, not only because of the divinely established principle of authority, but also because of the divinely established principle of mutual submission, which to some would seem to be a contradiction. How can you have on the one hand levels of authority, some who are in positions of authority and others who are in authority under them, and at the same time have a mutual submission where everyone submits themselves to one another?

But that's exactly what we're told here in verse 5. Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you, including the elders, be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. This attitude of humility needs to characterize all of our relationships with one another in the body of Christ to begin with and even beyond that throughout the world. But we are to cultivate this Christ-like spirit of humility in all of our relationships.

It's a divinely established principle of mutual submission. All of you, clothe yourselves. The word clothe means to tie on as with a knot or a bow, to tie on a piece of clothing. Think of an apron. Tie an apron on. Think of the towel that Jesus girded himself with in the upper room in John chapter 13. He girded himself. He tied that around his waist.

That's the picture here. Clothe yourself. Tie on as with a knot or a bow like a towel or an apron, and that in itself indicates servitude, which is very much in view here. And all are required to do this, including elders of both types, whether it be the pastoral elders, whether it be the elderly members of the congregation. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. That is, maintain an attitude of submission to one another. And if that seems to be a contradiction, let me just simply point out that Peter's not the only one who taught this.

Paul taught the same. In Ephesians 5, 21, he says submitting to one another. All of you, submit yourselves to one another in the fear of God. Verse 22, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Back to back, two verses. Mutual submission, verse 21, and then the recognition of divine order, husbands to wives in verse 22. They don't cancel out each other. The Bible is not contradictory. I remember my surprise more than probably 40 years ago now as I was sitting in a hospital room, waiting room, picked up a magazine off the table, which was a Christian magazine, and read an article on mutual submission based upon the text in Ephesians 5, 21, which, among other things, said that this basically cancels out verse 22, where wives are told to submit to their husbands. No, it doesn't. Any more than the mutual submission of 1 Peter, chapter 5, cancels out the authority that God has given to pastors. And the level of authority that God has given to the elderly in the church. It's possible to maintain both.

You say, well, I don't see how that's possible. Well, get the mind of the Spirit. Get a spiritually-minded attitude, and you'll realize that they're not contradictory.

They actually work together very nicely. It's telling us that the exercise of authority in the church is not exercised with pride. It's exercised with humility. And therefore, there is both at the same time levels of authority which need to be recognized and submitted to by all, and there's also a humility that makes everyone act toward everyone else in a humble way, to each esteem the other better than himself, even if that person is in a position of authority. That kind of attitude would solve all the problems that some marriages have where the husband exercises overbearing authority in relationship to the wife.

That does happen. It happens often because that's a prideful, sinful misuse of that authority. But when there is this humility, then the authority can be exercised in a Christlike way, and likewise all areas of authority. And so because of the divinely established principle of mutual submission, the prevailing attitude of humility, authority exercised with humility, that's part of the therefore. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. And the third reason for the therefore is this quotation in verse 5 from Proverbs 3.34. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Proverbs 3.34 quoted here in 1 Peter 5 and also quoted in James chapter 4 and verse 6. What this tells us is that there is a divine opposition to proud people, and there is divine favor to humble people.

Now which do you want? God's favor? Then cultivate humility.

What do you want? God's opposition to you? Then remain in your stubborn pride because that will be the result.

This, by the way, is a present tense. God continually resists the proud, and God continually gives grace to the humble. Therefore, therefore, humble yourselves. That's the reason why we are to humble ourselves. But next the requirement, and what is it that this text requires of us?

Well, of course, we've already seen it. It requires us to humble ourselves. It is a required activity. Humble yourselves.

There's something for us to do. The verb form is probably middle voice, reflexive. That's where the yourselves comes in. Reflexive verb is one that adds this myself or yourself to it and indicates a personal responsibility to cultivate humility and to suppress pride. It is a requirement that is given to us to do that.

Humble yourselves. But there is also a necessary submission, which may be indicated in the verb here, and if not, it's certainly indicated in other ways. But this is one of those interesting Greek forms where you can't tell the distinction between the middle voice and the passive voice. Sometimes they're spelled the same.

Sometimes there's a difference, but sometimes they're spelled the same. And so you look at it and you say, is that middle, humble yourselves, or is that passive, be humbled? Most commentators take it to be the first, the middle voice, humble yourself. But it is clear that it's possible that it is saying, be humbled. Now, that's a command. How do you obey a command for something that is placed upon you? How can you obey a command to be humbled, a humbling force that is brought to bear upon you from outside yourself?

Well, in this way, this is what it would mean if that's the proper understanding, if that is the form that is to be understood. Allow yourself to be humbled. Don't resist it. Accept your humiliation. Don't fight against it. Submit to God-ordained circumstances that humble you. The assumption is that such humbling activity by the hand of God is going on in your life pretty regularly. It's not something you're going to have to wait a long time before you see any examples of it or have any opportunities to submit yourself to it.

It's ongoing. Recognize it. And here's how you are to respond to it. Don't fight it.

Don't resist it. Don't resent it. But humble yourself unto the mighty hand of God.

Allow yourself to be humbled. Either way, whether this is middle voice or passive voice, it is speaking of a spiritually-minded attitude. On our part, there is to be intentional humbling, humble yourselves, suppression of pride, or be humbled, submission to humbling circumstances intentionally, consciously, recognizing what you are doing.

Because whether it is middle voice or passive voice, it's imperative in either case. It's a requirement. We must humble ourselves or we must submit ourselves to the circumstances God brings into our lives in order to humble us.

That is required. It is a command of Scripture. It is an imperative, which brings us thirdly to the recognition.

We're moving along quickly. What is the recognition that causes us to understand the importance of this humbling ourselves? Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, under the mighty hand of God. That is in recognition of God's majesty and in recognition of God's power. Under the mighty hand of God, it speaks of a mighty God, a majestic God. God is majestic beyond our comprehension, beyond our ability to comprehend. He is exalted, whether you exalt Him or not. He is exalted far and high above His creation. But because He is a mighty God who is highly exalted, He is therefore to be exalted in our hearts, in our thinking, in our minds. We recognize His greatness. We exalt Him in our estimation. And because we understand how great and mighty He is, we humble ourselves before Him.

Why? Because of who He is and because of who we are. He is great and mighty. And who are we by comparison? We are creatures. He is Creator. We are weak.

He is strong. We are foolish. He is wise. We are sinful.

He is holy. We are limited in our abilities and resources. He is unlimited in His abilities and resources. We are finite creatures. He is an infinite creature.

And on and on and on we could go with all of these comparisons. And therefore recognizing how mighty, how majestic He is, and how small and insignificant by comparison we are, we should humble ourselves before Him. It is in recognition of who He is and it is in recognition of who we are. As I was working on this, my mind went back to a song I hadn't sung or heard for many years, probably many decades. I think Greg Phillips isn't here to check on this, but I think our choir may have sung this in the early years. In fact, that might have even been before Greg Phillips came to be our choir director.

But this song by Frank Garlock captures what I'm talking about at this point. God is holy. God is mighty. And we praise His matchless name, for He is worthy. Let us worship and adore Him as we call upon His name. God is holy. God is mighty. Have any of you ever heard that before, sung that before?

I see a few hands. If I could sing, I'd sing it to you. It's a majestic hymn. Simple, but captures so beautifully what we're talking about here. God is holy. God is mighty. We praise His matchless name, for He is worthy. Let us worship and adore Him. Let us bow down before Him as we call upon His name. God is holy. God is mighty. Yes, we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God in recognition of His majesty, and we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God in recognition of His power. We humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. The mighty hand of God is a phrase that is used a number of times in the Old Testament, and as far as I could tell, every time it has to do with the Egyptian plagues, they display the exercise, the manifestation of God's power in plague after plague after plague as He prepared His people to come out of their Egyptian bondage and prepared the Egyptians to let them go. It didn't happen all at once, and I think that's very instructive here. God could have. He could have just squashed the Egyptians, killed them all on the spot, and said, Go free.

There's nobody to stop you. But instead, He exercised His mighty hand by degrees. All right? It's like turning a screw. Turn the screw one time. Is that enough? No, I won't do it. Turn it again. Is that enough? No, I won't do it. Turn it again.

And so forth. Ten turns of the screw before the Egyptians finally said, Leave! Leave! Go! Get out!

We will all be dead if you stay any longer. It took ten definite manifestations of God's mighty hand before the Egyptians were willing to let them go. Hypothetically, if they weren't willing to let them go with the tenth plague, was God done? Was His quiver empty? Does He have no more arrows in His quiver? Or could He have pulled out number eleven? Could He have pulled out number twelve? Could He have pulled out number thirteen? What is the limit to His mighty hand?

Obviously, there is no limit. He has unlimited power. And so this reference to God's mighty power, mighty hand, is a reference to God's irresistible actions in human affairs.

His power at work. God is holy. God is mighty.

We just, well we didn't sing it, but we referred to a song about it. God is mighty. He is almighty. He is, the technical term, the theological term, is omnipotent. My Father is omnipotent.

And that you can't deny. He is omnipotent. Therefore, it is futile to attempt to resist Him. Why would you resist an omnipotent Creator, eternal Creator, without beginning and without end?

Because it's futile to resist. The Egyptians, Pharaoh, resisted again and again and again and again. But the Egyptians are going to submit because of God's mighty hand. God is omnipotent. Alright, another turn of the screw. Another turn of the screw.

How many do you need? God has all power at His disposal. And therefore, if you will not submit before His mighty hand humbly, you will be forced to submit in your sinful pride as you refuse to let go of that sinful rebellion. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, wisdom tells us to humble ourselves before Him. Why should you humble yourself before Him? Number one, in recognition of His majesty, He's worthy. But number two, in recognition of His power.

Don't be stupid. For God is worthy to be exalted to the highest degree. And we are worthy to be humbled to the lowest degree. And therefore, to submit before the mighty hand of God is appropriate. It is necessary.

And as we are getting ready to see more clearly, it is beneficial. There is a reward. Please note, before we move on to the reward, that humility toward others depends upon humility toward God. First, we are told to submit ourselves to one another. Man-ward.

People-ward. Horizontally. But then we are told, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.

A vertical direction. And it really takes that vertical understanding, that vertical perspective, that vertical humbling under the mighty hand of God, to enable us to have the humility, the right attitude, the spirit to humble ourselves and our relationships with other people. But now we come, number four, to the reward.

There is a reward for those who do this. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time. There is a promised exaltation with an indeterminate time, but an appropriate consideration. There is a promised exaltation. It is a divine promise that He may exalt you in due time. Jesus said much the same in Luke 14, verse 11, For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

It is a divine promise. He who humbles himself will be exalted. And furthermore, we should understand that this exaltation is a divine exaltation. That's better than any human exaltation. There's all kinds of ways to be exalted in this world to receive honor and the recognition and authority and wealth and all of the different things that we look at as various types of exaltation. But I want to promise you, dear friend, the greatest exaltation upon earth is nothing compared to the exaltation that is promised by Almighty God.

He is able to exalt us so far above any earthly exaltation that we'll look at all of the rewards of earth and say, That's trinkets. That's Cracker Jacks prizes. Do they still have those?

I don't even know. I haven't had a box of Cracker Jacks for years. Anybody had a box of Cracker Jacks? Do they still have little plastic toys in there? Do they?

Marty says they do. Big deal. You got that little plastic toy. That might mean something to a small child, but if you have any maturity at all, you look at that and you say, That is almost worthless. Though I suppose if you save it for 30 or 40 years, it might become a collector's item and then it might be worth something. Maybe you can sell it on Antiques Roadshow or something.

Who knows? I wish I had some of the things I'd had when I was a boy. Wish I'd saved them. They're worth a fortune now. I used to have a pretty decent collection of baseball cards, and I concentrated on the New York Yankees.

I had Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Bobby Richardson, Roger Maris. I had cards for all those people. When we moved, my mother said, You've got to get rid of stuff, get rid of stuff, get rid of stuff, and I threw them away.

I'm thinking, Now, that didn't take up that much room. Why didn't I have enough foresight to save those? But they seemed fairly worthless at the time. I enjoyed collecting them and showing them to other boys and comparing cards with the other boys, but I outgrew that.

I threw them away. That's just so many trinkets, but I promise you that the reward that God gives, the exaltation that God gives, is going to be so great that the greatest reward upon earth is going to seem like a Cracker Jack's prize. Big deal. But this promised exaltation is a conditional exaltation. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that. In order that, he may exalt you in due time. You don't get the exaltation without the humbling.

The humbling comes first. This is taught consistently throughout the Scriptures for the people of God. There is great reward. There is promised delights beyond comprehension, but they will only come after our suffering a while, after our humiliation for a while, after our being brought low for a while. Then, after suffering is reward. First the cross, then the crown, and that's the pattern all throughout Scripture. So therefore, humble yourself before the mighty hand of God in order that you may be exalted in due time.

It could even be understood in this way. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God to the degree that you do that, he will exalt you in due time. In other words, minimal humbling, minimal exaltation, greater humbling, greater exaltation, extreme humbling, extreme exaltation. We do know that there will be different levels of exaltation in eternity.

There will be some over ten cities and some over five cities and some over one city. And so, those who humble themselves the most are going to be exalted the most. Therefore, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God in order that he may exalt you in due time, due season, the proper time.

Humiliation does not last forever. Exaltation is coming and the question is, when will it come? Well, the answer is in due time.

You say, when is that? And there is some discussion among the commentators as to whether this verse is talking about in this life or in the life to come. And there can actually be a pretty good argument made for both of these. In fact, actually the life to come, nobody argues against.

That one's indisputable. There is exaltation, great exaltation coming in the life to come. When Jesus returns, there's going to be great rewards for his people. But is there any sense in which this reward will come in this life? And there are some indications that that may in fact be so. The word that is used, Cairo, in time, can be understood, and this doesn't have to be understood this way, but it can be understood as meaning in time as opposed to in eternity. He shall exalt you in due time. But others say, no, that just means after the passing of time, it doesn't really indicate that it takes place within time as opposed to eternity.

However, that's not the only text that deals with this. Remember when Jesus dealt with the rich young ruler and made it clear that his riches in this life did not indicate his godliness. In fact, his unwillingness to give up his riches in his life was an indication of his unsurrendered heart and of his lost condition. And Peter said, well, see, we've left everything and followed you. What do we get?

Remember that? Is there any reward for our being willing to humble ourselves in this way, to give up our fishing business, to give up our times of enjoyment with our family and so forth, to sacrifice all of that to follow you? And Jesus answered and said, assuredly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake, and the gospels who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life. Is it now or then?

Both according to Jesus. I say, well, when's mine coming? In due time, I'm tired of waiting.

Ah, that's the unsubmissive spirit. Submit yourself. Submit yourself under the mighty hand of God. Wait patiently for his time. Don't be impatient.

That's pride at work. Patience is humility at work. I'll trust God to reward me at the time and in the ways that he deems best. Doing so, waiting for the properly ordered time, tests our faith and it tests our submission.

But this is an appropriate consideration. Our primary motive for doing what we're commanded to do is out of love, gratitude, obedience, to glorify Christ. But it is not inappropriate when the scripture mentions it to bring in this secondary motive, mainly the promised reward. And Peter, by the Spirit of God, is telling us that if we will defer self-exaltation now, we don't work at exalting ourselves. We don't manipulate, maneuver, and try to climb the ladder to exalt ourselves.

That kind of activity upon earth is exceedingly detrimental to our spiritual state. But if we patiently await divine exaltation, we will find that to be gloriously beneficial at the appropriate time in due season. So what should we take away from this? Well, let's talk first of all about a proper understanding of pride and a proper understanding of humility. Pride is our natural state. We're born with it. Pride is self-centered. Pride is self-sufficient.

Pride wants to be in control and is all discombobulated if it feels like it's not in control. And God, in the case of His children, will pry our fingers off the controls of our life until we realize we can't control it. We can't control the circumstances. We can't control these things. The sooner we recognize it and say, I can't, I submit to you, the sooner we can not have our fingers painfully pried off of these things. But if we won't do it, if we won't yield control in our sinful pride, then God has a way of making us aware that we are not in control.

He is. Pride wants to be in control. Pride has an attitude of superiority toward others. Pride often sees itself as a standard by which others are measured. Pride trusts in self, not in God.

Pride seeks self-glory, not God's glory. One expression of pride is in this poem, Invictus. I remember reading this when I was in school. And it stayed with me almost more forcefully than anything I ever remember reading in high school.

The short poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley, an American born in 1849, died in 1903. He says, out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade. And yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.

And on July 11, 1903, William Ernest Henley found out that is not so. That's pride. What about humility? Humility is not a natural state.

It's a spiritual state. It literally has the idea of low-mindedness. In other words, make yourselves low, not high, low. There's an element in regard to people as we've seen and another element in regard to God. Let's take humility in regard to people.

What does that mean in practical terms? It means as much as anything a willingness to serve others. The opposite of self-exaltation, to take the servant's place, the lowly place, to put others first.

Paul put it this way in Philippians 2, 3, and 4. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem others better than himself.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interest but also for the interest of others. God introduces this great section, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. In regard to people, it means putting others first, it means not exalting self, it means a willingness to serve others. In regard to God, what does it mean? It means surrendering to God's sovereign rule. Some people don't even accept the biblical doctrine of God's sovereignty.

They're far afield. Others accept it mentally, but in their daily lives they struggle with surrendering to it, acknowledging it in a practical sense. Since God is sovereign, I yield to him the decisions of my life and the circumstances.

But it surrenders to God's sovereign rule. It's patient in the face of trials, of deep privations. It accepts difficult circumstances as God's wise design for my good. God has brought this into my life for a reason, no doubt to deliver me from pride, from sin, from selfishness. Therefore I don't ask, why did this happen to me? Or, what did I do to deserve this? But rather, oh Lord God, what are you doing in my life? What are you pruning out of my life? What are you teaching me?

Please show me. Humility in regard to God is being completely dependent upon him. Verse 7 goes on, it's all part of the same sentence. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Give him control of your life.

Trust him for all the circumstances of your life. Lay these concerns before his throne and leave them there. That's surrendering to the sovereignty of God. So in conclusion, how do we cultivate humility? That's the whole theme of this message, cultivating humility. How do we do it?

Two simple steps. Number one, search your heart for manifestations of pride. If you will, God will show them to you.

And when he does, acknowledge them, confess them, and ask God to help you subdue them. And number two, very practical, look for ways to serve others at home, at work, at church. We don't have as many opportunities for service now under COVID as we normally do. Many of you are involved in so many things that have been shut down.

All right, be patient. That's God's sovereign purpose for now. But the day's coming when we're going to need workers in the nursery again. I hope many of you will say I value the opportunity to serve. As a humble servant, I tie on the apron of service and I serve the Lord Jesus Christ in this way and in teaching children's classes and in teaching and preaching God's word in the rest homes and on and on and on it goes. I'm eager to get back to these areas of service, but there are plenty of areas around you at home and at work and at school.

Look for them. And as you engage yourself in these things, you are cultivating God-honoring humility. Shall we pray? Lord, help us.

We are proud, but we don't want to be. Your spirit has changed our desires. We want to be like Jesus. Help us to have His mind, His humility, His servant's attitude. We ask in His name, amen.