The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matt 23:11 ESV

When I showed up at a church work day event, the job that got assigned to me was scrubbing all the bathrooms: upstairs, downstairs, and down the hall. I did not remember the church having that many bathrooms. Though I had once been a painting contractor, they put my wife painting instead which in itself was pretty funny. While I was tempted to complain that they were underutilizing my skills, I sensed that the Lord had set me up.

I set my heart to give those bathrooms the best cleaning job they ever had. The walls, floor, mirrors, toilets, urinals and doors all shined when I was done with them. It took most of the day. After a few weeks, a new door opened up for me, the Lord used me to minister to others and He promoted me. C.S. Lewis once said “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” I have been on both sides of this fence.

Once as a child I thought very little of myself and wished that I could have been someone else, but then later as a man, I can gravitate towards thinking a lot of myself. God is faithful and tries to keep me balanced in this with little opportunities like the one above, but it is my choice to humble myself each time. If you find yourself in a humbling situation, thank God that He has taken notice of you, because He is probably preparing you for something bigger. The lower you go, the higher that He can take you! The way to the top of His kingdom is through humility and serving.