A Dose of Humility

A few years ago, I was invited to be the keynote speaker at a women’s conference and then to speak at the church service that Sunday. The conference was amazing. Women came from all over, hungry for God, and He showed up in such a powerful way. You could feel the Holy Spirit moving – touching lives, and changing hearts, and Sunday was no different.

From the moment I arrived, a day before the conference began, until the time I left, I was treated like a queen. I never asked for it, nor did I expect it, but I must admit, I felt spoilt and overwhelmed at the same time. When I stepped into my hotel room on that first day, there on the table was an array of my favourite snacks and foods, including cheese – which is my weakness, along with my go-to drinks and a beautiful welcome card.

Throughout the three days, the team couldn’t do enough for me. After my final session, the pastors whisked me away to visit one of the most famous sites in that part of the world. Once again, I was lavished with generosity, along with some of my favourite foods, including – you guessed it, cheese.

We had an incredibly blessed time during conference and at the Sunday church service, but if I’m honest, I felt especially privileged. It would be easy to get used to that kind of attention.

God, however, in His wisdom, wanted to make sure I remained humble.

The following week, I was serving at another conference, but this experience was completely different. I was not the guest speaker. In fact, I wasn’t even a speaker, and many of the people at that conference didn’t know who I was.

Instead, I was serving on our mission agency’s display stand, where Paul – my husband and I answered questions from people interested in missions. Spread across the table were brochures sharing incredible testimonies of what God was doing around the world, along with opportunities for those interested in serving cross-culturally. Behind us sat a box filled with additional brochures, ready to replenish the display whenever supplies ran low.

While Paul was talking with someone, I glanced over my shoulder and noticed a delegate toss a half-finished coffee into the box, mistaking it for a rubbish bin. I immediately pulled the cup out and rushed the box to the conference bathroom.

There, sitting on the concrete floor, I began cleaning every brochure that had been affected while women walked around me to use the facilities. As I sat there cleaning those brochures, my mind flashed back to the previous week. Just days earlier, I had been enjoying red-carpet treatment and extraordinary hospitality. Now I was sitting on a bathroom floor trying to salvage coffee-soaked brochures.

How easy it would have been to think myself above cleaning brochures, or taking on what some might consider the “lower” jobs, simply because I had been treated a different way the week before. May I never, and may we never, fall into the trap of thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought, but be willing to serve in whatever capacity God puts in our hands to do.

The last act that Jesus did for His disciples before He left this earth was wash their feet. Are we willing to serve as He did?

For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Matthew 23:12 (NIV)

May we all live from a place of humility before God. May we serve as Jesus served. May He be glorified through the fruit borne in our lives. May we live with sincere hearts and genuine motives. Although we don’t humble ourselves to be exalted, there is a promise for those who walk in humility.

Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will lift you up. James 4:10 (NIV)

At the right time, He will lift us up to serve in places we never expected.

Love, Deb