Jesus lived a life of perfect obedience, humbling himself by becoming a man and dying on a cross. Meditating on his humility will help us with our own.

Personal freedom is overrated. Maybe you knew that already? Free time, me-time, calling my own shots, living out my dreams. Nope, obedience is where it’s at. Humble obedience is true freedom. To wake up every day knowing that God himself put me on this earth to be a blessing to others (and bring him glory and put the devil to shame), all by following his lead, all by obeying his Word—that can give so much meaning and purpose to my life every day.

I didn’t always think so. I used to have a very narrow view of obedience: Stay out of trouble, find some way to break those one or two bad habits I had, keep reading my Bible each day, and that was about it. My attitude may not have been as blatant as the rich young ruler who once told Jesus, “All these [commandments] I have kept since I was a boy” (Luke 18:21). I knew I had sins, but still I had a too-narrow view of obedience. As far as humbly being interested in my neighbors’ lives and struggles and needs, building up relationships with them, carrying their burdens, figuring out how I could serve them, loving them as much as I cared about myself—as far as all that, I was mostly oblivious. I ignored most of that. That made me really not so obedient at all (see Galatians 6:3 and 1 John 4:20).

Jesus’ humble obedience

It’s a far cry from the attitude Jesus had toward obedience. He lived off of it. Obedience fueled him, not carbs, calories, vitamins, or protein shakes: “ ‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work’ ” (John 4:34). Obedience was his whole life: “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing” (John 5:19). That obedience meant, day after day, humbly making other people’s troubles his own, all the way to the cross. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). At the cross, he finished obeying his Father, finished humbly serving his neighbors, as he covered up all our disobedience with his priceless lifeblood. “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8).

We can gain so much from studying Jesus’ obedience, but first we should meditate on the infinite humility it required of him.

Read those words from Philippians again: “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” He who is Mighty God (Isaiah 9:6), our great God (Titus 2:13), in very nature God (Philippians 2:6), worshiped by all the angels (Hebrews 1:6); he whose words hold the whole universe together (Hebrews 1:3), whose voice makes the demons shriek in fear (Mark 5:6-8), whose royal title is King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16); he who will judge all the living and the dead (John 5:22)—how he had to lower himself just to become a fragile little baby in a poor carpenter’s family! How he condescended: to learn the Bible like any other schoolboy; to do household chores; to suffer hunger, thirst, and exhaustion; to cry; to feel pain! He humbled himself to be tempted 40 days and 40 nights by the devil. He humbled himself to be put under all the Jewish law. He humbled himself to walk thousands of miles in his ministry and to have no table of his own at which to eat and no bed of his own on which to sleep. He humbled himself to pay taxes, to make friends with notorious sinners, and to wash his disciples’ feet.

He didn’t owe anybody any of that. We owe everything to him. Everybody whom Jesus ever met owed him unending worship. Instead, he served them all the way to the cross. You can’t get any humbler than that: the mighty God making himself weak enough to hang naked on a cross. He chose to be made ugly at the cross. He chose to be abused at the cross. He laid down his life. The ultimate humility, the ultimate love.

Our obedient humility

Humility like that doesn’t sound very healthy. It’s self-abasing, self-consuming, self-suppressing, self-defeating, self-crucifying, self-destroying. Humility like that will eventually kill you. Yet that is the exact attitude God commands us to have. Anything less is too narrow a view of obedience. “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus . . . [who] humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5,8).

Sometimes life confronts us with just how much that kind of obedient humility might cost us. How much self-denial it will take. How it will cost us our freedom, our dignity, perhaps even our sanity. And we shrink from it. Father, this person you put in my life for me to serve needs too much. It never ends. It’s like the princess in the fairy tale who finds out she is supposed to kiss an ugly frog. She cringes at it. She backs away. And that’s just one kiss. Not a whole lifetime of serving even the uglier people in your life, even the crazier ones. It could be a neglectful or inconsiderate spouse, a needy or wayward child, a helpless or obnoxious brother or sister in the church. And God tells us to serve them, whatever it costs.

Maybe we are tempted to reply, “What about my life? When do I get to be happy? When do my needs get met?” Maybe when we start to realize the extent of the obedience he wants from us, we go so far as to ask him, “Father, is it fair to expect me to give up so much, to hurt so much?”

God isn’t being unfair to you when he demands difficult self-denial from you; he treated his own Son this way.

Looking at Jesus’ humility, Jesus’ obedience, will help us in many ways with ours. It shows us, yes, obedience is supposed to be life-consuming. No, God isn’t being unfair to you when he demands difficult self-denial from you; he treated his own Son this way. Yes, Jesus sympathizes with how hard this is for you. Yes, this kind of obedience pleases him very much. This is, in fact, truly living: following the Savior, becoming more and more like him, and helping others like he did. Yes, he will continue to support you, guide you, and strengthen you. He went to the cross for you. Why would he give up on you now?

In reality, the more you suffer as you try to serve others in your life, the better you will understand what Jesus put himself through to save you. And there is nothing more wonderful to understand than that: the humble obedience that led Jesus all the way to the cross. That’s where you learn what love really is, what the heart of God is really like, and how precious you must really be to him.

Thank you, Jesus, for saving us through your humble obedience. Make our hearts like yours.

Author: Christopher Doerr
Volume 113, Number 03
Issue: March 2026