10: Humility in Your Marriage

Welcome back to another great episode.  This time we are talking about Humility in Your Marriage and the importance to be humble.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.  (Phil 2:3-4

The world defines humility as taking a modest view of yourself and being free from pride and arrogance.  This is often a foreign concept because of our natural inclination towards selfishness.  It is often at the cost of those we love the most. It doesn't mean that I think less of myself , but that I think of myself less.

Jesus Humility

In other words, we are commanded to always think of others in everything we do to model the attitude of Jesus. 

Jesus modeled what it was like to be humble.  He came as a little baby who needed to be bathed and have His diaper changed.  How much more humble could Jesus get?  Jesus did this out of His love for us rather than His own dignity. As we strive to be like Jesus we are called to be humble.  The reward for thinking more about others is that God often chooses the humble to doHiswork. 

"God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. 1 Cor 1:-29 

 The reward for this humility is honor (Prov 15:33). 

  ➔    Illustration

Footwashing

A practical way Jesus showed humility was by washing His disciples feet.  The practice of foot washing was originally an act of hospitality in Palestinian homes, performed for guests (who wore sandals and walked on dusty roads) by a servant or the wife of the host.

The early Christian church introduced the custom to imitate the humility and selfless love of Jesus, who washed the feet of the twelve disciples at the Last Supper (John 13:1–15), the night before His Crucifixion.  Foot washing is symbolic of humility.

John 13: 1-15:

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him  to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.  Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God; so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. 

After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.  He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"  Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."   "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet.  Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."  "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"

Jesus answered, "Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you."  For He knew who was going to betray him, and that was why He said not every one was clean. 

When He had finished washing their feet, He put on His clothes and returned to His place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" He asked them.   "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am.   Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

That is an incredible picture of the true meaning of humility.  Now let's go to another time and place, 1950's America, and look at a lighthearted picture of humility.

➔    Couple Application:

Remember to look for moments of humility in your own marriage.  Maybe it is something big or maybe it is something small.  But whatever it is, find moments to be humble.  God will honor that.