Humility: Jesus' Inner Life - Doing What God Does

Not to us, O Lord, not to us
  but to your name be the glory
  because of your unfailing love and faithfulness.  (Psalm 115:1) 

I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  (John 5:19)

In the Gospel of John we have the inner life of our Lord laid open to us. Jesus speaks frequently of His relation to the Father, of the motives by which He is guided, of His consciousness of the power and spirit in which He acts.

Listen to the words in which our Lord speaks of His relation to the Father, and how unceasingly He uses the words not, and nothing, of Himself.

[Jesus' words] teach us what the essential nature and life is of that redemption which Christ accomplished and now communicates. It is this: He was nothing, that God might be all.

This life of entire self-abnegation, of absolute submission and dependence upon the Father's will, Christ found to be one of perfect peace and joy.

His humility was simply the surrender of Himself to God, to allow Him to do in Him what He pleased, whatever men around might say of Him, or do to Him.  (Andrew Murray, Humility, Chapter 3)

In the face of great art, great works of literature, great feats of strength and skill, and great acts of kindness I am sometimes brought into a sense of awe at what can be done by a person dedicated to such actions.  I think of myself as rather mediocre and even lazy.  My life can seem colorless and empty in the face of greatness.

Self-deprecation is not a virtue, but the feeling of awe which inspires me to live for something greater than just "getting by" can lead me to virtue.  Such is the humility of the psalmist (115:1) who gives glory to God and not himself.  The great feats of God are love and faithfulness.  By such actions, I am brought to my knees in amazement.  All the great feats of people never match the greatness of God, who, although greater than anyone, made himself less that everyone.  The incarnation of Christ shows this best.  May my awe of your greatness inspire a desire to join in your greatness by learning your humility, Lord.


Jesus' explanation of only doing what he sees the Father doing has typically only meant something about the unity of the Trinity to me.  I saw them as words explaining how the Son and the Father are one.  I had thought Jesus was merely proving his equality with his Father so he could show his authority over the Pharisees.  It sounded almost like he was saying, "Well, at least I am doing what God wants while you are not."

These are not small things.  Proof for the Trinity and Jesus' authority are entirely necessary for my faith.  However, Jesus did not come primarily to prove something or to show his authority.  He came so that I might have life and have it abundantly.  He came to set me free.  Free for what?  Free to live as he and the Father live.  Only God can be God to be sure, but he invites me to taste in the love and humility that make the Trinity so good.  In the end Jesus' words about only doing God's will are about what it means to really live.  Let me seek to do what you do, Lord, so that I might have life - real life.


Lately, I have been seeking peace.  Usually I equate peace with indifference or ease.  I think that I would be much more peaceful if I didn't care too much.  I think I would be more peaceful if I had some privacy and quiet or maybe a relaxing night with some friends.  I do not usually think that doing what God is doing would bring me peace.

What I think God is doing shows a lot of what I think about God.  If he is the cosmic police officer, then he is busy handing out tickets and punishing wrong-doing.  If he is the universal grandfather, he is gently sitting back watching his grandkids and giving them gifts while he allows someone or something else to parent them.  If he is a complete martyr, he is pleading for me to recognize his graciousness and goodness while not expecting much response from me.

What do I think God is doing?  One time I was trying to have a quiet time with God in the morning and my children were playing and laughing and making a racket.  I huffed off to my room by myself where I could concentrate.  I continued to have trouble hearing God and being with him.  Eventually I called out in frustration, "Where are you, Lord?"  He told me, "I'm playing with the kids.  What are you doing?"

It is not that God is merely playing all the time or that he is always doing something that I am not.  The point was that I would not find out what he is doing by being angry with my kids while doing something I deemed "good."  He still met me in my time with him and taught me how self-important I can become, but he also taught me that I need to stay near him and ask him in order to find out what he is doing and not just assume I know.

Much of what God has laid out for me to do is quite ordinary: raise kids, love my wife, do my job, help at home, daily seek his face, etc.  This is not merely "busy work" between what God is doing, but it is what God is doing.  He delights in the "small" things in themselves because they are what the "bigger" things are built with.  Actually, God's designation of what is small and big differs from mine often.  "What is highly valued among men is detestable to God." (Luke 16:15)

Humility enables me to see what God is doing.  Pride blinds me to God's desires and actions.  Really, pride is the condition of indifference or aversion to what God is doing.  Humility is a constant awareness of what God is doing with the intention of joining him.  Jesus could do what his Father was doing because he made it his job to know what God is doing.  He communed regularly with his Father and encouraged his disciples to do the same.

Pride narrows my view to my own actions and intentions.  I only see what I want and seek to get it at whatever cost.  Pride cannot see what anyone else is doing, only what how others are interfering with what I am doing.  Pride makes it impossible to do what other people are doing.  It only uses other people and God to further my own actions.

Humility broadens my view to see the actions and desires of God and other people.  It seeks to further others' desires and intentions.  Humility is impossible without a God who takes care of my needs and desires.  When I realize my place in God's heart and in God's kingdom, I find that I what to work for him and with him more than anything else.  This is humility.

Lord, I realize how much I struggle with pride when I seek to do what you are doing.  I worry about getting what I want.  I worry about missing out on good things.  I get frustrated when things don't go my way.  But peace and joy are found not with pride, but only with asking, seeking, and training to be like Jesus, who did nothing for himself, but always did what you wanted.  Only in you and with you will I find love, joy, and peace, and life.  Amen.


Do you trust God enough to do what he is doing?  Do you think that a life like Jesus would be full of peace and joy or cramped and dull?

The Everyday-ness of the Spirit

Devotional Classics, Catherine of Genoa, Excerpts from Life and Teachings

The creature is incapable of knowing anything except what God gives to it from day to day.  If it knew what God intends for it, it would never be at peace.

We end up doing our own will under many covers - of charity, of necessity, or of justice.  But God's love wills to stand naked and without any cover since it has nothing to hide.  I have seen this love.  Indeed, every day I feel myself more occupied with him, and I feel a greater fire within.

I find my mind more restricted upon God every day.  It is like a man who at first is free to roam the city, and then is confined to a house, and then to a room, then to a smaller room, and finally bound and blind-folded until there is no way of escape.  With no comfort except in God who was doing this all along through love and great mercy, I came to a place of great contentment.

If we are to see properly, we must pluck out of our eyes our own presumption.  If we gaze too long at the sun, we go blind; in this manner, I think, does pride blind many of us who want to know too much.

He knows that we are the kind who will not leave our one little toy unless we are offered four!
As I think about you, my spiritual children, I see that God's pure love is attentive to all of you needs.  It is because of this tender love that I need not ask anything of God for you.  All I need to do is lift you up before his face. (Catherine of Genoa, pp. 180-183)

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
"He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ” (Luke 16:29-31)

The "everyday-ness" of the Holy Spirit makes him go unnoticed.  This is an irony, really, since the Spirit is holy, that is, set apart, and not mundane.  He is unique and not meant to be neglected any more than any other holy thing, and yet he moves around almost secretly in my existence.

I think one reason for this everyday-ness is that the Spirit works with me little by little.  He gives me what I need for the day, mostly, and no more.  Revelations have to do with work and raising my kids and loving my wife more than what the nations of the earth are about.  Like a little child I am often distracted by the big things, the bright colors, and the loud noises produced by the world, leaving the small voice of the Spirit behind.

Another reason I miss the voice of the Spirit is that he moves me in the direction of greater concentration and appreciation of God that blocks out much of the world's persistent invitations to taste, eat, drink, and feel.  This is unpleasant at first.  It is not that Spirit wants to keep me away from experiencing such pleasures because God doesn't like them.  He made them!  No, the Spirit "restricts," as Catherine puts it, in order to bring my full attention upon the Father, the giver of all good things.  People consider a child spoiled if he loves gifts more than the giver of the gifts.  So the Spirit seeks to wean me from inordinate pleasure-seeking (what is called greed or lust.)

Although I may seek my pleasure under the guise "of charity, of necessity, or of justice," the Spirit takes away these "covers" and reveals that the only true motivation that can stand on its own is the love of God.  It is self-authenticating and can stand "naked" without any other cover or justification.  The Spirit reveals this seemingly plain statement of love toward God is the basis for all true power, for all things that will last, and for all pleasure.

The Spirit does not take away without giving.  Much has been made of this characteristic abundance of the Holy Spirit.  In one sense, such giving and generosity needs to be emphasized.  We are encouraged to ask God for our wants and needs, and above all, he gives us his Spirit as his greatest gift (Luke 11:13).  We are made to seek pleasure in that goodness has pleasures associated with it.  It is good and pleasurable to have love, joy, and peace in my life.  In this way, the restriction of the Spirit enables me to receive the true gifts from the Spirit.  Because I find that "God alone is good" and enjoy the gifts of this life as indications and revelations of his goodness, the intensity of the pleasure is determined by the love and enjoyment I have in God himself.  The gifts themselves can be distracting from this single-mindedness of enjoying God and him alone, and the Spirit will never detract from my love and focus on the Father and the Son.

Also, the everyday-ness of the Spirit slips my attention because of his constant provision for all my needs.  So many things are provided that I fail to take note of without special attention.  The Spirit enables and encourages such special attention either by emphasizing such gifts in their intensity, place, or timing in my life.  The words, "Thank you" can be as common as air around me, but when spoken is a certain way or at a certain time, they can be powerfully life-giving and significant.  I believe this is a lot of what the Spirit can do, if I am attentive to his voice and his work.

One of the masterpieces of the Holy Spirit is the Bible.  Because of its everyday-ness in much of its content and the constant insistence of the world that it is just like any other book, this great work goes unnoticed by many people.  The lack of notice or the wrong kind of attention show just how easy it is to ignore or misunderstand the Holy Spirit.  He authored the Bible through the hearts and lives of people seeking God and his ways.  For those who cannot see this, more dramatic works of the Spirit, even up to resurrection, will be misunderstood or even just missed.

So I find that I miss the Spirit because he works often little by little instead of through obvious means.  I miss him because he directs my heart and mind toward God with increasing "restriction" so that I might find true pleasure in him.  I miss him because of his constant provision.  The Bible shows one great example of the how the Spirit can seem so ordinary and everyday like words just written on a page taken in little by little directing my heart to love God and yet, also change myself and those around me with the great knowledge and power stored in that book.

Lord, allow me to walk in the Spirit.  I am impressed with how I am told to walk with him.  I may be carried and transported at times, but those are not what you command.  You say simply to walk.  In the Spirit I pray, "Give us this day our daily bread."  I rejoice in your care in staying with me in ordinary days, Holy Spirit.  May your power be evident in such times to all who seek the Father.  Amen.


The Spirit says to me, "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.  While every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."  (John 17:2)  There is no loss, no cut, no wound, no disappointment that the Spirit will not take and bring back more goodness, grace, and gift than what was taken away.  This is the gospel.  This is the power of the Spirit.


He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources

Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,

Our God ever yearns His resources to share;

Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;

The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,

His power no boundary known unto men;

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus

He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again. (Annie J. Flint)