July 1, 2024

Matthew 18:1-4

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

² Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, ³ and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

It is humility that makes us the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And if we read on in the chapter, it is pride that reduces us to be the least. Jesus shows us here that the way up is down.

Personally, I want to be great in the kingdom of heaven. And the way to greatness is found by pursuing a path of humility. We do this by being converted, by becoming as little children, and by entering the kingdom of heaven.

The word, “converted,” is metaphorically used for changing one’s mind. It literally means “to turn,” or “to turn around.” It really shows that our default path in life is a path of pride and self-centeredness. But our default cannot lead us to greatness. Our default will lead us to conflict, arguments, self-promotion, church splits, powerlessness, being bound by what ought not to bind us, and the inability to loosen up the grip of the effects of satanic influence in our behavior. It is the sole reason that there is unforgiveness in our lives.

Little children are easily influenced by their parents. They readily admit to not knowing all the answers. It isn’t until they start growing up and become teenagers that they think they know all the answers. And this level of belligerence is not pleasant to live through. Everyone prays for the teenage years to be shortened and they long for the years when children were little.

And finally, a humble person enters the kingdom of heaven. They understand their new identity in Christ because they understand that they have received a change of address. As long as our focus is on our old address, we cannot be great. It is only when we recognize the difference in our location when we are “in” Christ that we are able to focus on the things that bring us to greatness.

So many Christians do not understand their new identity, And as long as they remain in ignorance of what has occurred in their new birth, they cannot hope to become great in the kingdom of heaven because they cannot understand how to become humble or the great power that they would discover in the realm of humility.

The final thing that we learn about humility is that we can’t pray our way into it. There is no easy button that God pushes and changes us from proud into humble. The humbling process is something that we must do ourselves. And we can only do it through the process of discovering and applying the truth of God’s Word to our lives.

We get humble by humbling ourselves. It cannot be forced upon us by God or by other people. Humility can only be self-inflicted. And it is only self-inflicted by a knowledge of the truth.