Stoop to Lift: First Tuesday of Advent

He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.
~ C.S. Lewis, Miracles, p148

In our world, what goes up must come down. But in God's way of doing things, what goes down will go up. Or, as St. Peter observed: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."  

The way of Jesus was to humble himself in order to meet us in our humiliating condition of sin and pain, wandering and hopelessness, striving and surviving and ambition and war. The way of God to lift us up out of our humiliation was to have Jesus join us there. Since God lifts up those who humble themselves, Jesus becomes our hope for being lifted up out of our mess.

Jesus is both the one who lifts us up, and he is the model of how to meet others in their humiliation, and lift them up. If we will be humbly honest about our condition, we will be prepared for Jesus to lift up our chin, to lift up our hearts, to lift our souls. If we will be humbly loyal to Jesus, we will be used by him to lift up the chins, hearts, and homes of those in our city, our neighbors, our fellow believers.

Jesus became one of us to show us how to live, and he became one of us that he might bring us back up to him. The two go together. We know that we will want to be with Jesus in heaven when we want to be used by Him to help lift others up out of their sin, their poverty, their mess.

When we seek to exalt ourselves, we will be pressed down. When we follow the example of Jesus and humble ourselves - even to the point of death, in order to help lift up others, we will be exalted. We walk the way of humility out of obedience, but also out of imitation. And we walk under the burden of humiliation knowing it is the true path to exaltation - and it will be an apt reward we are prepared to receive and properly enjoy.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
~ Philippians 2v9-11 (NIV)

Who has God placed in your path that needs lifted up out of sin? Lifted up out of poverty? Lifted up out of a mess?

Are you too proud to stoop?

If not, what have been the rewards of humbling yourself?