This article is also available in audio form. Listen or download it here.

I remember it like it was yesterday; in I walked to my grotty local pub for the weekly quiz and the as I approached the bar its custodian looked me in the eye and asked: “Pint of the usual?” There it was. Aged 18 and I had a ‘usual’ (a Guiness, if you’re asking/offering).

There’s something very appealing about that Cheers-esque fantasy of walking into a bar and everybody knowing your name. I don’t know what you’re like when you walk into a party, but I’m more than happy to enter and grab the attention of the room straightway.

Read John 1

Maybe that’s just my desperate need for attention talking, but it’s this dynamic that shocks me about Jesus’ incarnation; it was so… subtle, I mean, as subtle as a cavalcade of angels in the sky and huge star get, I guess. But even with a couple of flashy escapades, Jesus, the son of God, the one whom the whole kit and caboodle was created through, rocks up in a forgotten, backwater town and then disappears for the next three decades to learn his stepdad’s trade. He didn’t so much burst into the party and demand to be noticed as crept in, grabbed a drink and sat in the corner making polite conversation.

The Message translation of Philippians 2 is flame emojis 🔥🔥. Just read this:

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life.

I love the ‘he stayed human’ in this. At no point during his time on earth did he cash in those heavenly cheques. In fact, in the face of temptation in the desert he turned down the opportunity to display power, receive worship and rule the earth. The humility of Jesus meant he was never grasping for the next rung on the ladder.

Now, I, unlike Jesus, do not have equal status with God – my starting point is vastly different. And yet, if I’m honest, how much time and effort do I put into trying to hoist myself up onto that level, trying to put myself front and centre, trying to get to the middle of the party?

Jesus’ humility encourages us to bide our time, to wait for God’s timing rather than trying to artificially raise ourselves up to a higher, bigger platform.

God didn’t become human so that humans could become Gods, so why do we spend so much time trying to do that?

There’s a definite balance to be struck here, because while Jesus entered the world in the most humble way imaginable, he took his seat at the table with religious leaders at a young age, while he took on the status of a servant, he invited others to follow him, while he acted with humility, he allowed himself to be anointed with expensive perfume.

Humility isn’t about denying the influence God has given us, it’s about an attitude of service, it’s about happiness with our lot, it’s a counter-cultural mindset in a society of individuals trying to elevate themselves rather than others.

Jesus will come again in glory; his second entrance will be much grander than the first. The humility Christ models relies on God’s timing, not our own impatience, allows God to life us up, rather than striving for our own glory.