04 January
EXALTATION THROUGH HUMILITY AND OBEDIENCE

“The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.”

(Job 17:9, NLT)                                                                          

Exaltation – the state of being uplifted, elevated or promoted – may be spiritual, physical, financial, emotional, social, intellectual, and so forth. God is willing and able to lift us to unimaginable heights, but we must be like Jesus – humble and obedient.

Many times, humility and obedience come with pain, tears and struggles. Concerning Jesus, it is written, “He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” (Philippians 2:8-10)

Will you pay the price? Have you kept calm in the face of rudeness or assault, when you felt like lashing out? Have you lost opportunities because you would not compromise? Hebrews 12:4 says, “After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.”

Sometimes, it is not even the struggle against sin but the practice of love, self-denial and sacrifice that is the challenge.           

ACTION: Have you given up things that matter to you for things that matter more to God?

PRAYER: Father God, thank you for giving us Jesus to set the right examples for us!