From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Humility of Conversion – Part 2

“Unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”         (Matthew 18:3)

Genuine conversion, according to our Lord, requires people to “become like children.” Little children often exhibit the sort of traits — simplicity, dependency, helplessness, unpretentiousness — that God demands of adults who desire true spiritual conversion. Children are not naturally unaffected by sin, displaying the effects of sin from the earliest age. However, they are generally naive and unassuming, humbly trusting others, with no ambition for personal greatness.

The sinner who “humbles himself as this child,” Jesus proclaimed (Matthew 18:4), is like the one who realizes the humility of conversion and finds greatness in the kingdom. The verb translated “humbles” literally means to make low. From the Lord’s perspective, any man or woman who lowers themselves is the one whom God elevates. Jesus told the Pharisees, “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (23:12). Anyone not willing to humble himself as Jesus did (Philippians 2:8) will have no place in His kingdom.

Jesus instructed that believers will rise higher in His kingdom as their pride decreases and they sink lower in their sense of self-importance. The New Testament commentator R.C.H. Lenski observed, “He who thinks of making no claims shall have all that others claim and by claiming cannot obtain. . . . Only an empty vessel can God fill with His gifts. And the emptier we are of anything that is due to ourselves, the more God can pour into these vessels His eternal riches, honors, and glories.”

Ask Yourself:
What are your greatest challenges to practicing humility in your life? When you think about the most humble people you know, how do you believe they deal with the very situations and attitudes that cause you to trip over your pride and your sense of self-importance?