Dear Redeeming Grace,

In the opening prayer of "The Valley of Vision", a collection of Puritan prayers, the writer prays this:

"Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high...."

As we thought last week about putting on the gospel value of humility, I think this prayer gets at the pursuit of humility. Ultimately, our desire is to be like Christ, who was the most humble person to ever walk this earth.

Jesus taught us to be like a servant, to do the lowly tasks like washing each others feet. He taught us not to seek the place of honor, but rather to sit in the lowest place and let another move us to a place of honor.

In every endeavor we have the choice of whether to exalt ourselves or humble ourselves. And Jesus makes it clear that whichever we choose, God is the one who will make the opposite the result of our choice. In other words:

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 14:11 ESV)

As we continue to pursue and put on humility, may the Lord teach us to seek the way down, where we serve and love others well.