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“IAM...LOWLYINHEART” 29
only from Jehovah God. (John 5:22) As archangel, Michael
had extensive authority. Yet, he humbly deferred to
Jehovah rather than trying to seize additional authority.
Besides humility, he also showed modesty, or an awareness
of his limitations.
9 Jude was inspired to write about this incident for a reason.
Sadly, some Christians in Jude’s day were not humble.
They were haughtily “speaking abusively of all the
things they really [did] not know.” (Jude 10) How easy it
is for us imperfect humans to let our pride get the better
of us! When we do not understand something that is
done in the Christian congregation—perhaps involving a
decision made by the body of elders—how do we react? If
we were to engage in negative, critical talk even though
we cannot know all the factors behind such decisions,
might we not be showing a lack of humility? Let us instead
imitate Michael, or Jesus, holding back from judging
matters over which we have no God-given authority.
10 God’s Son also showed humility by accepting the assignment
to come to earth. Consider what he had to leave
behind. He was the archangel. He was also “the Word”
—Jehovah’s own Spokesman. (John 1:1-3) He resided in
heaven, Jehovah’s “lofty abode of holiness and beauty.”
(Isaiah 63:15) Nonetheless, the Son “emptied himself and
took a slave’s form and came to be in the likeness of
men.” (Philippians 2:7) Think of what his earthly assignment
involved! His life was transferred to the womb of
a Jewish virgin, there to develop for nine months to become
a human baby. He was born a helpless infant into
the household of a poor carpenter and then grew to
be a toddler, a little boy, and a teenager. Although perfect
10, 11. (a) What is remarkable about the willingness of God’s Son
to accept the assignment to come to earth? (b) How might we imitate
Jesus’ humility?