By Sister Becky Swisher

³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:3-4)

“Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble, when you’re perfect in every way.” Let’s be honest, we like to think we’re perfect. We wonder why others can’t be as good as us, and we just know the world would be a better place if everyone were like us!

Or would it?

In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God appeared to Solomon and said, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Notice the order of God’s instruction: Humble yourself, then pray, then seek His face, and finally, turn from your wicked ways.

The story of the virgin birth is dear to all of us, and if we look closely, we can see Mary modeling God’s instructions to Solomon and the Israelites. First, the angel Gabriel comes to Mary and tells her she is “highly favored” by God and will give birth to a son, whom she is to name Jesus. Right then and there, the young Mary could have gotten the “big head.” She could have skipped back into the village, nose in the air, letting everyone know that she was suddenly better than them! Instead, she humbled herself and prayed.

Now, the Bible doesn’t say that she prayed, but she did ask, “How will this be since I am a virgin?” She was asking God a question, and isn’t that a part of prayer? Asking questions, seeking guidance, searching for the Lord’s will? And even though we often feel like God takes forever to answer our prayers, Mary got an immediate response. The Holy Spirit would come on her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her.

Mary’s response was to seek God’s face. To seek the face of God means to give Him all of our attention, thoughts, and presence; to seek His character and truth, and to desire to know Him more than anything else. Mary did just that when she said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). Mary was willing to do whatever God called her to do. She had to have known that an unplanned pregnancy was going to cause problems for her. What would her parents think? What would the villagers say? What would her fiancé do? Yet she sought God’s face and said, “if this is what you want me to do, I will do it.”

But first, she had to turn from her wicked ways. We don’t know that Mary was wicked, but like many of us, she was probably prone to moments of selfishness. And who could blame her if, upon hearing this news, she wanted to take some time for herself and try to make sense of it all. Instead, she put aside any thoughts of self, and immediately left to go help her elderly cousin, Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant. As Paul writes in Philippians, Mary “did nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility she valued others above herself, not looking to her own interests but to the interests of the others (Philippians 2:3-4; paraphrased).

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to be more like Mary. When we start to get the “big head,” thinking we can navigate this life without You, humble us. Drop us to our knees in prayer, remind us to seek your face in everything we do and say, and then give us the strength to turn from our sinful and selfish ways. Help us strive to not be “perfect in every way,” but rather to be “humble in every way.” In your name we pray, Amen.