SCRIPTURE FOUNDATION
In the passage from Corinthians Paul asks us to consider our own call, to be rooted in our own nothingness. Interestingly enough the word, humility, derives from the Latin word, humus, meaning earth or ground. So we are called to be grounded or rooted in the reality of our own nothingness. All that we are is gift. Of ourselves we have nothing but our sins! In the excerpt from Phililippians, Paul recommends that we have the same attitude of humility as Jesus who emptied himself and became as we are, so we might become as He is: Child of the Father and we, daughters and sons of God. This humility, this self-emptying, this kenosis, is seen pre-eminently on the cross when Jesus' side is opened and he empties himself, that is, blood and water flow out. He gives all He has to give, even in death, until there is no more to give.
1 Corinthians 1:26-30
Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus...
Philippians 2: 3-11
Never act out of rivalry or conceit; rather, let all parties think humbly of others as superior to themselves, each of you looking to others' interests rather than your own. Your attitude must be that of Christ:
Though he was in the form of God
He did not deem equality with God
Something to be grasped at.
Rather, he emptied himself
And took the form of a slave,
Being born in the likeness of men.
He was known to be of human estate,
And it was thus that he humbled himself,
Obediently accepting even death,
Death on a cross!
Because of this,
God highly exalted him
And bestowed on him the name
Above every other name.
So that at Jesus' name
Every knee must bend
In the heavens, on the earth,
And every tongue proclaim
To the glory of God the Father:
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!
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