Love flows out of a humble heart

Hebrews 2:7-8a You have made him for a little while lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, and have appointed him over the works of Your hands; You have put all things in subjection under his feet. Although man was made lower than the angels for a little while, God crowned him with glory and honor by giving him jurisdiction or authority over all of His creation. Genesis 2:15, 19 record man’s appointment by God over all things. “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.” After Eve was created from Adam’s side, in verse 23, we see that he named her Eve. Naming things is an exercise of jurisdiction. When God brought everything to Adam for naming, He crowned him with glory and honor and put all things in subjection to him. In this verse, the author is on his way to explaining how even though God humbled Himself by taking on the form of man, He is still greater than the angels. This highlights for us the relationship of humility to love. Jesus came into our realm because He lives to love with His Father, who is love. A proud person doesn’t lay down his life for others, especially for his enemies. You’re probably familiar with Paul’s explanation to the Philippians of Jesus’ humility as a motivation to love like He has loved us. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:3-8). Yes, we are the crown of God’s creatures on earth and we bear the valuable image of God in humanity, but we are not to be proud. We are lower than the angels and if we have Jesus dwelling in us, we have His attitude of humility as a fountain of His love. We observe from the passage in Philippians that humility produced obedience in Jesus. He obeyed His Father’s command to love not matter what the cost. This will be true for us today. As we humble ourselves, surrender our wills to God’s will, we choose to love others out of obedience to Jesus’ command to love. We don’t love in our own strength apart from Jesus. We love by the strength of Jesus’ humility, in the power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God. This is our calling as believers in Jesus Christ—humbly loving with Jesus.