{"id":35355,"date":"2023-11-10T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/god-of-lowliness\/"},"modified":"2023-11-10T11:15:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T11:15:00","slug":"god-of-lowliness","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/god-of-lowliness\/","title":{"rendered":"The God of Lowliness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nadia Bolz Weber, shared some thoughts on grace, failures, and the soul feeling its worth in her Christmas newsletter:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>When Mary sings of God in the Magnificat, she didn&rsquo;t say that God looked with favor on her virtue. She didn&rsquo;t say that God looked with favor upon her activism. She didn&rsquo;t say that God looked with favor on the fact that she had tried so hard that she finally had become the ideal version of herself.<\/p>\n<p>No. God looked with favor on her lowliness.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>And yet then what do I do but constantly curse my own lowliness. Obsess about my flaws and shortcomings. Berate myself for my failings and defects of character; for not trying hard enough to become my ideal self.<\/p>\n<p>But our failings and weakness and mistakes are God&rsquo;s perfect entry points. It is our lowliness and our humility, not our strength and our so-called virtues where God does God&rsquo;s very best work. Which makes me wonder if perhaps our obsession with self-improvement is really just a form of atheism disguised as spirituality.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><strong><em>Editor&rsquo;s Note:<\/em><\/strong><em> Warning: The original article by Nadia Bolz Weber contains some R-rated language.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[433],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3387,3497,3600,3664,3921,4078,4085,4088,4089,4189,4191,4227,4432,4449,4523,4923,4938,5265],"tax_ctp_topics":[379,380],"class_list":["post-35355","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-advent","tax_ctp_tags-birth-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-christmas","tax_ctp_tags-confession-of-sin","tax_ctp_tags-experiencing-god","tax_ctp_tags-good-news","tax_ctp_tags-gospel","tax_ctp_tags-grace","tax_ctp_tags-grace-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-humble","tax_ctp_tags-humiliation","tax_ctp_tags-imperfection","tax_ctp_tags-mary-mother-of-jesus","tax_ctp_tags-meekness","tax_ctp_tags-nativity","tax_ctp_tags-self-image","tax_ctp_tags-selflessness","tax_ctp_tags-weakness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The God of Lowliness - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/god-of-lowliness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The God of Lowliness - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nadia Bolz Weber, shared some thoughts on grace, failures, and the soul feeling its worth in her Christmas newsletter: When Mary sings of God in the Magnificat, she didn&rsquo;t say that God looked with favor on her virtue. 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