DAY FOUR: Happy Are the Humble

Humility is placing yourself under the grace, glory, and mission of God.

Humility allows us to access Jesus’ supernatural ability to defeat sin and adversity. The good life is a humble life of leaning on Jesus. Peter’s denial of Jesus (as he was being led to his crucifixion in Matthew 26:74-75) weighed heavily on his heart. He watched in horror as Jesus was executed like a common criminal.

So, what do you do when you are sad? You do something you love. Peter went back to fishing with the other disciples. A few days after Jesus had died, as they were fishing, they heard a voice that sounded familiar, but it couldn’t be the voice of the one they followed for three years, because he was dead and had been buried for three days. The man on the shore asked, “Friends . . . you don’t have any fish, do you?” (John 21:5). They answered, “No.”

The man on the shore then instructed them to cast their net to the other side. Peter and the others did as he instructed. Just like the first time Jesus told them to cast the net on the other side of the boat, and just like the first time, they caught so many fish they could not lift the net (John 21:6). It was then that Peter knew. He knew the impossible had become possible—Jesus was alive! He jumped into the water and swam to shore. When he got there, Jesus was cooking fish over a fire. As the rest of the disciples arrived, he told them to bring some of the 153 fish they had caught so he could cook them breakfast also (John 21:10).

Please do not miss this: just as Jesus asked for the fish that he gave the disciples by telling them where to place their net, Jesus will never ask you to do anything that he first hasn’t given to you. This is grace.

After breakfast, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Jesus does this to rewrite Peter’s story. Peter denied Jesus three times and, graciously, Jesus gives Peter three times to reaffirm his love for him. Before Jesus’ resurrection, it was over a fire that Peter denied Jesus. After the resurrection, it was also over a fire that Peter affirms that he loves Jesus. There were two different fires and two different results. What happened? Jesus took Peter through the fire, burning off his pride, so he could receive grace from Jesus’ nail-pierced hands.

Humility is not something that originates in us. It originates in God as he drenches us with grace.

READ Philippians 2:5-11.

How does being humbled relate to being conformed to Christ?

PRAY

Father, may my inability give way to the supernatural ability of the Holy Spirit. Help me to walk in humility, patience, kindness, and mercy. Help me to see how great Jesus is so I can be continually in awe and humbled by him. In Jesus’ name, amen.