Jump Start # 3474

Matthew 11:29 “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.”

Our verse today is commonly called the Lord’s invitation. His invitation is wrapped around two actions on our part. First, is the taking of the Lord’s yoke. The verse before this says, “Come unto Me…” That’s a call for us to move. We must move close to the Lord. So many want the Lord to come out to them. Forgiveness was extended to the prodigal, but he first, came home.

The other action call is for us to learn. The learning is specific. We learn from Jesus. And, what we are to learn is to be gentle and humble. We learn that as we see Jesus. Gentle and humble were His nature. And, we need to learn that. Many have been hurt by the cruel and insensitive things people, yes, even disciples, have said to others. It makes one wonder if some believe in Jesus, but they have never learned to be gentle and humble.

Consider the quality of the Lord’s humbleness. He was God on earth, yet He was humble. In a culture that is all about self, self-pity and being the victim, Jesus was humble.

You don’t see Jesus bragging. You don’t read about Him going into a village and saying, “You won’t believe what I did in the last place. It was amazing. You should have been there. There is nothing I cannot do. I’m the greatest.” His works pointed to who He was, but He allowed those miracles to speak for themselves.

It is the insecure and the proud who must always tell others what they have done. They are seeking praise and approval. Not knowing what the right hand and the left hand are doing, as Jesus said, is something that  doesn’t fit well in our times. Why do it, if you are not going to get a shout out from the pulpit or a pat on the back. You won’t find Jesus doing that.

You don’t see Jesus playing the victim. Oh, He could have and He would have done it well, but He didn’t. Imagine Jesus sighing heavily and saying, ‘I can’t believe I have to do all this for you guys. You don’t do anything for Me.’ Or, ‘Can you imagine that I have to go to the Cross. And for what reason? Not Me, but because of you. I’m doing all of this for you.’ And, with an attitude like that, the loads of guilt would have been more than the apostles could have handled.

Jesus was humble. It’s important for leaders to be humble. A true leader will share the victories and the praise with everyone and take the responsibilities and the blame for the failures. That’s a true leader. What we see many times is just the opposite. Those in charge want the credit for what is working and they look to throw someone under the bus for the failures.

Learning from Jesus. Learning to be gentle. Learning to be humble. Those things do not come automatically. They are not in our DNA. We must learn these things and we learn them from Jesus.

The humble leader will realize that he doesn’t have all the right ideas. He’ll listen to others. He’ll learn from others. One doesn’t have to have a title to bring forth a good idea. Humble leaders create an atmosphere where ideas are welcomed and wanted. And, when an idea is pursued, the humble leader, like a scholar footnoting a reference in a research paper, will give credit for where the idea came from.

The humble leader realizes that he will make mistakes. He wants to do his best but he realizes that he will sometimes fumble the ball. Seeing this in himself will help the leader as he works with others. We tend to expect perfection in everyone but ourselves. The humble servant recognizes his shortcomings. He learns. He tries to do better. When others criticize him for not being perfect, he takes it quietly. He knows.

Our culture pushes us away from gentleness and humbleness. Who is the best. Who is number one. That’s the talk of our culture. We must realize that we need each other and we learn from each other.

Come, learn from Jesus. It will make you a better you if you do.

Roger