Humility Leads to Exaltation

After describing the humble nature of Jesus Christ, a nature that moved Jesus to lay down His life on a cross, Paul goes on to describe the exaltation in Philippians 2:9-11:  Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  We don’t often think that humility leads to exaltation.  I think most of us desire the exaltation part.  We like the praise of men.  We like to be well thought of.  But the path to exaltation is paved most often by self-promotion, pride and self-esteem. However, it doesn’t work that way with God.  God exalts humility.  God exalts you when you are humble.  I would rather forfeit the praise of man in order to receive the praise of God.  Yes, there are examples when truly humble people in this world receive the praise of man…someone like Mother Teresa or Billy Graham comes to mind; and I’m sure there are many others.  However, it normally doesn’t seem to work that way. Humility now doesn’t often lead to exaltation now.  Humility now leads to exaltation later.  I think we have a decision to make.  Will we seek the applause and exaltation of men now and possibly miss out on the exaltation by God later?  Or, will we allow ourselves to be humbled and live in an attitude of submission; seeking God’s perfect plan and purpose for our lives?  The exaltation is coming but it might not come in this lifetime.

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