Philippians 2:5-7 – Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (NIV)

I live in a dirt area. The rainfall is twenty inches a year at best. As I write, the last measurable rainfall was six months ago. The dirt we have is a good dirt, as a farmer views it. We do have agricultural crops planted strategically year-round.

Dirt is a life substance — the beginning of a plant's life. Dirt is the material through which water is filtered for purification. It is the substance of which man was made. Is there something mentioned that we do not use as a base for the existence of our life? In conjuring up our thinking, dirt — ground and pounded and squeezed — is not only the foundation for our homes, our highways, and crops, but is also the genesis for petroleum and oil products too numerous to name. Without dirt, we have no life. No other planet in the universe can boast of this lowest form for the basis of life. We, on planet earth, are unique in that we have dirt!

In the eyes of different studies, we have a wide variety of names. Soil denotes dirt on a grander scale, raising it to the necessary loam we use in the fertile growth of crops: humus.

Genesis 2:7 – The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (NIV)

From the dirt we were derived: humans.

Philippians 2:8 – And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! (NIV)

Humbleness.

Humus, humans, humbleness: all are derived from the same word source. What are we striving for — when we were made from such a lowly state?

1 Peter 5:6 – Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. (NIV)

Prayer: Lord Jesus, it is in Your given state of humility that we see You as exalted, not as a strong and mighty King, but as a loving and caring God. Pure and holy, You see us as those upon whom to pour out Your love by Your humbleness to obey the Father, to give up Your position next to the Father, and by death on the cross, to bring us back into Your kingdom. We thank You for the magnificent fabric of life which You have intricately woven — dirt, words, and existence — so spectacularly detailed for our pleasure. May Your name be praised. Amen.

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About the author:

Terry Karr <teakarr@gmail.com>
Wildomar, California, USA
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