Am I humbly trusting and depending on God, like children depend on their parents?

1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

INSIGHT:  Pride, the opposite of humility, has been the biggest giant I have ever faced.  In early 2010, eager to win against this giant, I began asking the Lord to give me insight into the root of man’s problems.  Many pastors had taught that the root problem is selfishness, but I said, “Lord that still seems like an effect to me, so what is the root cause below that?” 

Suddenly, the births of all five of my children began re-playing in my mind.  I saw what happened when their umbilical cords were cut, and the children were separated from their source of life.  They all screamed in frightful panic.  It was like they were suddenly screaming out, “Who is going to take care of me now…who is going to keep me warm…who is going to protect me …who is going to feed me… who will love me now?  Their fear and screaming were not coming from selfishness; it was coming from deep insecurity, which resulted from being cut off from the only life source they had ever known.  Then my mind flashed back to the Garden of Eden, where God helped me to see that the sin of Adam and Eve effectively cut us all off from our original purpose and life source.  Essentially, our spiritual umbilical cords have all been cut.  The result is a deep insecurity, which aches in all of us, from the sin that separated us from our Father.  We too grow up subconsciously “screaming”, “Who will love me and accept me.  Who will take care of me?”  Until we experience Christ up close and personal, this “screaming” continues even for Christians and leads us to look to man or to the world to find “security”.

When my twins Ashley and Kaley were born, they were placed in separate beds for examination.  They were premature, and nurses were everywhere, so I couldn’t be right by them the whole time.  Ashley, the oldest, started screaming hysterically.  I tried talking to her from across the room to calm her down, but it didn’t work.  Her desperate shrieks continued, so they finally invited me over to her.  With video camera in hand, I walked over to a beet red face and ear-piercing cries of panic.  I put my face very close to her and told her that Daddy was there now, and it was all ok.  She turned, looked right into my eyes, and the screaming instantly stopped.  She had heard my voice in the room, but now she was experiencing my presence up close.  My voice was familiar to her, and one she could trust.  It not only brought comfort to her, but it brought such honor to me, to see her look to me, and no one else in that room, for her comfort.  I see clearly why God delights in our humility, and why He despises our pride, which declares independence from Him.  It is for God’s pleasure and honor, as our true Father, that we must reject our pride, self-sufficiency, unbelief, our own will, and instead humble ourselves as little children who cannot truly live without our Father.  This pleases Him greatly!

Pride is rooted in Satan (Isa 14:12-15), when he decided he wanted to be independent from God, and instead to be like God.  Pride is the power of hell, and humility is the power of heaven.  Until we humble ourselves like children, and our dependence is fully in God, we are acting in pride as our own little god, and this is wickedness against God, which grieves His heart.  Depending on God for everything goes against our nature but is the only way to eternal life!  Jesus makes it clear that our eternal destiny is dependent on our rejecting our own will, our pride, and humbling ourselves in total dependence on Him.

Could it be said of you today, by the angels in heaven, that you are a humble child of God, who is totally, or at least increasingly, dependent upon God?

“Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and highest virtue of man.” – Andrew Murray