Day 7 – Humility in the Death and Waiting

Luke 23:50-56 ESV

Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.

On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

 

Humility in the Death and Waiting

Jesus died, and was fully dead. He was wrapped in a fresh linen shroud and laid in the tomb. His followers, certainly still in shock, grief stricken, and exhausted, prepared spices and ointments for His burial and then retired and rested according to the Sabbath commandment. Their plan was to come back early on the first day of the week to finish their work with what they had prepared (Luke 24:1). However, for the moment, their work was disrupted by a rhythm that God put in place.

In Exodus 31:17, God spoke to Moses concerning the Sabbath saying, “It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed’” (ESV). That day of rest was a perpetual reminder that in all of their work and efforts they couldn’t accomplish what God accomplished. It was God who made them. It was God who set them free from slavery. It was God who would make them a nation. And it was God who would ultimately deliver on His promises to bless the nations through them. The Sabbath was a reminder that they could rest because “He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4, ESV). 

A state of emergency seems to mean a season of unknowns and canceled plans. One day I was working on plans for our Easter service, the next I was making plans for what church services would look like for a congregation confined to their homes for weeks. Some have had to cancel vacations and special events. Many have lost a job or suffered financially. How can you stop to rest when everything you’ve worked for has slipped away? 

The humility of Jesus in His death and waiting exhibits a better rest. On the cross, Jesus spoke His last, saying, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46, ESV). In keeping with the sign of the Sabbath, Jesus humbly gave His life and His work over to the Father, and fully rested in His arms. We may not always know what tomorrow brings, but we can rest today in the proven goodness of our God who doesn’t sleep. 

 

Prayerfully consider these few questions:

  1. What deprives you of sleep or seems too important to put down? Have you rested from it? Could you use a time to be refreshed?
  2. How does the good news of Jesus prove that God can be trusted?
  3. How does the good news of Jesus refresh your soul?

Day 6 – Humility in Dying

Matthew 27:27-54

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders,mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

 

Humility in Dying

The cross was an extremely well known and feared execution tactic in the Roman Empire. It was more than being put to death, it was torture of the worst kind. Executioners would tie a cross beam to the back of the condemned and make them carry it to the place of execution. Once arrived, as with Jesus, they would often nail them to the beam, attach it to a riser, and hoist them into the air. Shockwaves of pain would shoot through the body as their nerves bore their weight on the nails. It was a slow agonizing death that ended in eventual suffocation. 

Jesus endured this in His dying, but there was more. He was mocked, scorned, ridiculed, and taunted every step of the way. They posted a sign above His head that read “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (Matt. 27:37, ESV). A crown of thorns was placed on His head that dug into His skull, and they mockingly bowed to Him as king. Some watched and jeered Him, telling Him to save Himself if He was really the Son of God. Jesus bore it all; the beating, the torture, the utter hate, and He prayed “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34, ESV).

I can sometimes sacrifice a little of myself for somebody I love without saying a word. Maybe I can give up some rest in order to help a friend out or pass up something I want in order to buy something for my wife or kids. However, if I sacrifice something only to be mocked by the very person I am doing it for, staying quiet and humble gets exponentially more difficult. My ability to “look not only to [my] own interests, but also to the interests of others” decreases significantly (Philippian 2:4, ESV). It’s possible that my motivations are often more about getting high on my own self righteousness than truly loving somebody else. 

Paul writes in Romans 5:7-8, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (ESV). Jesus suffered so much pain in the face of hate. He certainly could have shown those who sought to humiliate Him the truth of His identity with some awesome display of power, but He didn’t. That Jesus died for His enemies with such a quiet humility is truly astonishing.

The humility of Jesus in dying on the cross is the ultimate love. Jesus didn’t die for those who proved they loved Him enough. Jesus gave His life to prove His great love for those who mocked, ridiculed, and scorned Him. 1 John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (ESV). The good news on this Good Friday is that He really is the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world, and that He died for you and me because He loves us with an ultimate love. 

 

Prayerfully consider these few questions:

  1. What if somebody, who was considered high risk for dying from COVID-19, mocked you for sacrificing your social life and financial loss in an effort to not spread the virus? Would you keep quiet? 
  2. How does your own sin mock the sacrifice of Jesus in a similar way?
  3. Jesus loves you and humbly died to forgive your sin. How does His love free you to love others?

Day 5 – Humility in Washing the Disciples’ Feet

John 13:1-17 ESV

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.  If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 

 

Humility in Serving

Disciples would serve their teachers by taking on many of the duties of a slave in Jewish tradition, but they didn’t wash their feet. That job was left for actual slaves. Foot washing in the first century was a very lowly job. The places that people walked were muddy and littered with animal droppings and other filth. Wearing nothing more than sandals left feet caked in the dirt and grime from the road. It was a dirty job, so Jesus humbly laid aside His outer garment, and then He scrubbed the feet of His disciples.

It makes sense that Peter, as a disciple of Jesus, protested the idea of his Teacher serving him in such a lowly way. He wouldn’t have washed the feet of Jesus, how could he let Jesus do it for him? His Teacher, though, insisted saying, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Peter, who was always zealous if not overly so, responded, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” (John 13:9, ESV).

Jesus taught the disciples by way of example that nobody is greater than another. If ever they thought that a job was beneath them or that they should be served by others, they were to remember what Jesus did. Jesus, who was God in the flesh, their Teacher and Lord, “took the form of a servant” and washed their feet (Phil. 2:7). This, then, is the type of humble ministry they were called to also. 

In the midst of a global pandemic, when we are washing our germ infested hands constantly and staying away from one another so as not to spread a virus, I can’t help but think about the doctors and nurses and others who are humbly risking infection themselves to care for us all. On the other hand, there are those who, for a plethora of reasons, cannot understand or abide by the many mandated social restrictions on their life for the sake of the many.   

    The humility of Jesus exemplifies the better blessing of serving others. Jesus laid aside His outer garment to wash the disciples feet. Then, as John 13:1 says, “he loved them to the end” by laying down His life to cleanse their hearts from sin (ESV). In all of this He led the disciples to follow His lead and share with Him in the ministry of reconciliation. What He did for them He has also done for us. If we let Him wash us, we too can experience the true freedom of laying aside our own pride to humbly serve for the good of all. 

 

Prayerfully consider these few questions:

  1. How does a threat to your status, safety, freedom, or otherwise, make it difficult for you to serve others?
  2. Consider how Jesus humbly laid aside everything to serve you and the world. In what way did He lay aside the very thing that causes you to wince?
  3. How is His way of laying yourself aside to serve others a better blessing for you and the world?

 

Day 4 – Humility in the Anointing and Betrayal

Mark 14:3-11 ESV

And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly,“Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.

 

Humility in the Anointing and Betrayal

In Philippians 2:3, Paul charges the church to “do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (ESV). Mark 14:3-11 juxtaposes the anointing of Jesus with the betrayal of Jesus, revealing where each of these divergent attitudes of selfish ambition and humility ultimately lead. 

In John’s account of this same story, we discover that the woman who anointed Jesus was Mary, the sister of the recently resurrected Lazarus (John 12:1-8). The alabaster flask of ointment that Mary poured over Jesus’s head was worth almost a year’s salary of an ordinary palastinian day laborer, and it was probably the most valuable thing that she owned. She had very recently witnessed Jesus call her dead brother back to life. So, in her eyes the price of the ointment compared with the gift of Lazarus’s resurrection wasn’t even close. Her desire was to give Jesus the very best thing she had in order to honor Him and express her gratitude and praise. Jesus said it was a beautiful thing that she had done. 

It was Judas who scolded Mary for wasting such an expense on Jesus, claiming that it should have been sold and given to the poor (John 12:4-5). John wrote that Judas was in charge of the disciple’s money and would often steal it for himself (John 12:6). Of course, it was also Judas who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, which we know he didn’t give to the poor because he later returned it before his suicide (Matt. 27:3-5). It is not hard to see that the desires of Judas’s heart were greedy and that he used Jesus to feed his selfish ambitions. 

C.S. Lewis wrote that, “you will certainly carry out God’s purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John.” I’d only change John’s name to Mary. Mary glorified Jesus by humbly gifting Him with her very best, and Jesus said she would be remembered for it always. Judas glorified Jesus by betraying Him, which led Jesus to the cross to die for the sake of the world while Judas took his own life in self hatred. 

It can be easy for me to go through the motions of acting like a disciple of Jesus who humbly cares for others as long as things go according to my plans. It’s easy to buy food to distribute to the poor or show up to a church service to worship and pray with others. However, when I’m caught off guard and somebody needs the money, food, or time that I intended for myself, that is when my heart’s treasure is truly revealed. Do I really count others as more significant than myself, or am I using Jesus and His people for my own benefit? What reveals your heart’s true treasure? 

The humility of Jesus is displayed in His being a better treasure than we could gain for ourselves. Jesus accepted Mary’s gift as an anointing and then poured Himself out for her on the cross. Jesus let Judas choose to treasure a few coins over Him so that all who had betrayed Him could be reconciled to God. Jesus counted others more significant than Himself even when the favor wasn’t returned, and for those who humbly accept His gift there is life abundant found in Him. 

 

Prayerfully consider these few questions:

  1. Has life interrupted by a quarantine revealed anything about what or who your heart truly treasures?
  2. How has Jesus proved to be worth more than anything else? 
  3. How would life be different for you if you consistently counted others as more significant than yourself? What would be lost and what would be gained?

Day 3 – Humility in Cursing of the Fig Tree

Matthew 21:18-22 ESV

In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.

When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and  do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

 

Humility in Cursing of the Fig Tree

Jesus told a parable concerning a fig tree that didn’t yield fruit in Luke 13:6-9. Seeing the fruitless fig tree, the man who planted it told the vinedresser to cut it down because it was worthless. The parable ends with the vinedresser’s request that the tree, having just been fertilized, be given one more year.

This is the story of Israel’s relationship to God and their covenant purpose of making Him known in all the earth. They were given every provision and every reason to trust God, but time and again they were unfaithful and sought their own sources of power, wealth, and prosperity. After Jesus cleansed the temple, it was clear that things hadn’t changed. The temple was busy, but the worship there was fruitless; it didn’t make God known to others. So, when Jesus cursed the fig tree He was undoubtedly making a statement about the continued unfruitfulness and coming judgment of the temple.

Jesus was hungry and wanted something to eat, but the fig tree yielded no fruit. We can assume that Jesus could have easily made the tree bear fruit to satisfy His hunger, but instead Jesus cursed the tree and taught His disciples about a faith that can move mountains. Through His actions Jesus not only made a statement about Jerusalem and the temple, He pointed to the better fruit of a humble faith in God. 

It occurs to me that we are more often found quickly thanking God for our “daily bread” (Matt. 6:11) than praying that He provides it. Is that because we’re proud and would rather leave the providing to ourselves? In a crisis, are you quick to yank the reins of your life from the hands of God in an effort to make things manageable again? In those moments when we are quick to skip the prayers, get out our planners, make a list, and start checking some boxes, the reality of where our faith lies is often revealed.

The humility of Jesus demonstrates a better faith that relies fully on God and seeks His glory above all else, in every circumstance. Paul says in Philippians 2:6 that Jesus, “though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (ESV). This is the humble faith that led Jesus to endure the cross in submission to the will of the Father. The good news is that because of the humble faithfulness of Jesus, instead of us bearing the curse of the fig we’ve been granted full access to call on the God who moves mountains and conquers death. 

 

Prayerfully consider these few questions:

  1. Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 21:22, “whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” How does that challenge you? 
  2. In a time of crisis, what is revealed about where you place your faith? In what ways do you trust yourself over trusting God?
  3. What is the better fruit that is yielded by humbly trusting in Jesus over yourself? How can you remember that for daily living?

Day 2 – Humility in Cleansing the Temple

Mark 11:15-19 ESV

And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.

 

Humility in Cleansing the Temple

After Jesus’s triumphal entry, He entered the temple and seemingly started throwing His weight around as He drove people out and threw over the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those selling pigeons for sacrifices. Why did Jesus do these things, and where is His humility found in it?

It is helpful to know that this whole scene would have taken place in the outer court of the temple, which was the space that was set aside for gentiles to pray. It was a place created for outsiders to join in with the people of God, but it was being used as a market for insiders to buy and sell sacrifices. As a result, outsiders were displaced and turned away so that they couldn’t worship God in the temple. 

Have you ever heard a friend or family member make a racial slur in an otherwise congenial moment? Have you felt the tension rise within you as you try to discern whether standing up for people who aren’t present is worth creating conflict with those who are? If so, then you know that often in moments like that, a prideful agenda will keep you silent while a humble agenda will open your mouth. 

Jesus went into the temple as an insider and made quite the ruckus. He was standing up to those inside for those who had been kept outside. When Jesus spoke, He quoted both Isaiah and Jeremiah saying,“‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” In this, Jesus revealed His heart for the nations and His humble agenda. God’s people were actively setting up barriers to keep the nations out, but Jesus came to bring the nations into the family of God by giving His life for them. 

The humility of Jesus bears a better agenda than that of the world. Jesus stood up for justice at the risk of upsetting the influential, and in His humble agenda He would become an outsider and lay down His life to make room for everybody in the family of God. The good news for us is that if Jesus came for the foreigner and the outcast, then He came for you and me. 

 

Prayerfully consider these few questions:

  1. Whether you realized you were or not, have you ever used Jesus for your own agenda? In what ways do you think you are most likely to do so?
  2. How does seeing the humble agenda of Jesus speak to who you are? How does it speak to who others are?
  3. Paul calls us to have the mindset of Christ among ourselves (Phil 2:5). How does that inform who you reach out to and who you stand in defense of?

 

Day 1 – Humility in the Triumphal Entry

Luke 19:29-40 ESV

When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying,“Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out” (ESV).

 

Humility in the Triumphal Entry

As Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on the back of a colt the crowds laid their cloaks and palm branches (John 12:13) along the road to prepare the way before Him. They sang His praises and hailed Him as God’s promised eternal King. In ancient times, a king would often ride a donkey as a sign of the peace they had achieved. After all, a horse and chariot were no longer needed when a king had won all his battles and there were no remaining threats. 

Jesus was doing more than fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy (Zech. 9:9) when He entered the city on a donkey. He was very intentionally announcing the establishment of God’s kingdom of peace and His identity as the long awaited King. The Pharisees, observing all of this, urged Jesus to silence the people’s praises, but He refused. Where is the humility of Jesus?

The Pharisees were well aware of the significance of the claims that were being made about Jesus’s Kingship, and they called on Jesus to show some humility by refusing to accept such praises. However, their request was a guise. John’s account of this same story says that “the Pharisees said to one another, ‘You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him’” (John 12:19, ESV). What they wanted more than Jesus’s humility was the support and allegiance of the people for their own gain and political agenda, and this whole scene was threatening to their own sway over the crowds.

Whatever Jesus’s  followers celebrated and understood about Jesus’s announcement, they certainly didn’t expect what would transpire over the next week. They had no idea that they would praise Him as King on that day only to deny Him, reject Him, and call for His execution within days. They were enamoured by His miracles, the moment, and the prospect that their plight as a lowly people under Roman rule might soon change. Like the Pharisees, they were out for themselves, and when Jesus was taken into custody later in the week they would shift their allegiance to whoever gave them more confidence in the moment about their future well being.

We can easily mistake confidence for pride and power. So often political leaders, business executives, and even pastors and other religious leaders rouse the praises of the people but turn out to be nothing more than prideful and arrogant, ultimately exploiting their sway of the people for their own selfish gain. Jesus is different. 

Jesus didn’t come to gain power, He is all powerful. Paul says in Philippians 2:7-8 that Jesus, who is God, “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (ESV). Jesus came to lay His life down for the people in the crowd, for the Pharisees, and for all who were going to mock Him and attempt to rob Him of His kingship. He would give His life to forgive them knowing they didn’t have a clue, knowing they were captive to sin and idolatry, and knowing they were ultimately robbing themselves and others of knowing true peace and joy. Jesus would die on a cross within the week so that they could finally have peace with God. This is the humility of Jesus. 

The humility of Jesus bears better confidence than the pride and arrogance of this world. Only Jesus, who is God incarnate, could rightly and humbly ride through that crowd with confidence. When Jesus refused to silence the crowds He knew that to deny their praises and proclamations would be to deny the truth. Jesus knew what nobody else knew; the price He would pay within a week to establish peace with God on their behalf. He would confidently give away everything for the sake of the world, knowing that everything that He is would remain for eternity. 

 

Prayerfully consider these few questions:

  1. What are you afraid to lose or let go of that keeps you from confidently and humbly living like Jesus? Any selfish ambition, material possession, or personal relationship? 
  2. Jesus’s humility is rooted in a confidence that He can lose everything and still have everything. How has He made that true for you also?
  3. The humble confidence of Jesus is yours as an heir with Christ (Phil 2:5, Rom. 8:17). If your heart could grasp that and believe it, how would you live differently?