I was reading through Matthew the other day and was struck with a paradox. One the one hand, Jesus seems too be telling us that we should think of ourselves as weak and lowly while in other scriptures we are told how significant we are in the kingdom of heaven.   The two thoughts sometimes seems contradictory.   However, throughout the Bible there seem to be numerous scriptures that hold us in a kind of tension between two absolute positions. For instance, we are told, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself “ (Prov. 26:4).  The very next verse says, “Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes” (Prov. 26:5). Somewhere in the middle of those two positions we are called to exercise judgment and to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit in a given situation…one  situation calling for no answer and another calling for an answer to the “fool.”

I find that same kind of tension in the New Testament where we are clearly called to humble ourselves if we desire to be great in the kingdom while at the same time knowing that we have this amazing identity of status and authority in the kingdom of God.  Matthew records a moment when some of Jesus’ apostolic band asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt.18:1).  Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

The word humble in the original language means lowly, weak, insignificant, or poor.  So to be great in the kingdom we must see ourselves as lowly, weak, or insignificant.  Yet, at the same time we are told over and over that we are priests, royalty, friends of the Most High King, ambassadors, co-heirs with Christ, sons and daughters of God, saints, and so forth. We seem to be called to see ourselves as insignificant, while, at the same time, knowing how significant we are.  We get the same flavor in James when he directs us to humble ourselves before God and then to resist the devil and he will flee from us. We are to humble ourselves before God but we are to have a very different bearing when we face the devil.

So do we see ourselves as insignificant or highly significant?  Do we see ourselves as weak or strong enough to send the devil to flight? Do we see ourselves as lowly or highly favored and established in heaven?  The answer seems to be “yes” to all of that.  The key seems to be in knowing that our significance, strength, and standing in heaven has all come to us as a gift, rather than as something we possess apart from Christ.

Our humility comes from knowing that apart from Christ we are weak, insignificant, powerless and lost.  He has given us value, significance and position but on the basis of his inherent greatness not ours.  We walk in strength, authority and confidence because it is his strength and authority operating in us.  To feel less than we are in Christ is to take away from what he has done and who he is, but at the same time we walk in humility knowing that all we have has come from him.

Paul put it this way,  “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9-10). Knowing that we have no strength, power, authority, or glory of our own allows Christ’s glory to shine through us.  We actually are not self-confident but Christ-confident so that we can walk both in humility and glory at the same time.

Jesus modeled the tension between these truths as he walked the earth knowing he was the Son of God who could call twelve legions of angels at any time, yet at the same time totally submitting himself to the Father.  The Son of God simply made a decision to only do what he saw the Father doing and only speak what he heard the Father speaking.  That was God himself operating in humility.  Ultimately, humility is a mindset of total dependence on another for our needs.  Jesus was humble in that he chose to be totally dependent on the Father in every circumstance even though he knew heaven would come running at his call.  When we walk with that mindset, both humble and significant,  we can be great in the kingdom of God.