Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Matthew 23:12
The Lord is teaching us how to obtain honor and glory in this life and the only way to obtain these things is by having the revelation that we can do nothing on our own. That apart from Jesus Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5). The verse Matthew 23:12 is illustrated in 2 contrasting stories found in Luke 18. In Luke 18, we find here the proud rich man who boasted on himself and was humbled down by The Lord and the blind beggar who completely relied on Jesus and got His blessings.
People who boast on themselves and their so-called efforts will soon be humbled. The Lord will allow this because of love. If the proud can remain boastful of themselves, they will never accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour. This is why the Lord Jesus had to use the law and “shut the mouths” of the boastful (Romans 3:19). Take the rich man who boasted about his good works to Jesus (Luke 18:18-29). Out of love, Jesus had to show him that his earthly riches and his fleshly efforts of doing good count for nothing in God’s eyes. Look at the ending of this story – the rich man parted in sadness. The Lord, out of love, had to humble the rich man back to God’s reality.
Let’s have a look at another story. This time it’s from a man who completely relied on Jesus Christ. In Luke 18:35-42, Jesus encountered a blind beggar who had nothing to boast for. Well, good for him, because when he heard Jesus was there, he cried in complete reliance on Jesus: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He did not sit there and scoff at Jesus for his hard life; he did not sit there and announced his good works or his sufferings. He simply cried out: “Lord Jesus, help me!” Now this show of humility opened the way for The Lord to ask: “what do you want Me to do for you?” and this actually gave the blind beggar the ticket to his healing!
You see, how we carry ourselves to The Lord will determine if we are going to spend our day in sadness or exalted in glory like the formerly blind beggar who I believed lived the rest of his life as a rich and healthy man in Christ.
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” John 13:8
The Lord has nothing to do with people who believe that they don’t need any cleaning (or washing). As children of The Most High, we come to Jesus Christ with the full revelation that without Him we are nothing.
* Image taken from Google Images