The ones God lifts
Jesus on exalting and humbling
Jesus states a law of the kingdom as flatly as gravity: whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. There are two ways up, and they lead in opposite directions. Self-exaltation eventually goes down; self-humbling is eventually lifted.
The striking thing is who does the lifting. Jesus does not say the humble must promote themselves more cleverly; he says they will be exalted — by God, in his time. The humble leader can stop campaigning for elevation and entrust it to the One who actually distributes it.
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
— Jesus — Matthew 23:12 (WEB)
God lifts the humble and lowers the self-exalting. Stop campaigning for elevation; humble yourself and let God do any lifting.
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
Jesus promises that the humbling God does, not the exalting we engineer, is the road that goes up. A leader formed here stops self-promoting and entrusts elevation to God. He humbles himself, confident the lifting is God's job. The inner work is releasing the campaign for your own exaltation.
Refuse to position and promote yourself; do the humble thing and let God handle elevation. Lift the humble around you rather than the self-promoting. Resist a culture where advancement goes to the best self-marketers. Trust God's timing for any exaltation rather than seizing it.
Leaders pour energy into self-exaltation, assuming the way up is to promote themselves, when Jesus says that road goes down. The blind spot is campaigning for an elevation God gives to the humble.
Notice where you are working to exalt yourself this week. In one such place, deliberately take the humble road instead, and leave any lifting to God.
We spend enormous energy on self-exaltation — positioning, promoting, angling for elevation — when Jesus says that road bends downward. The humble road feels like it goes nowhere, but it is the one God lifts.
Are you working to exalt yourself, or humbling yourself and trusting God to do any lifting that is meant to happen?