June 19 – Learning the Descending Way

Gregg’s Reflection

Jesus’ way is not upward mobility—it is downward humility. In business, leadership often meant climbing, achieving, gaining influence. In the Kingdom, leadership looks like descending into service, emptying ourselves of privilege, status, and control.

I remember seasons when I thought spiritual growth meant accumulating more—more knowledge, more experiences, more influence. But the deeper I journey, the more I see that growth is about subtraction. It’s letting go of the things I thought defined me, and discovering that my identity is rooted in God’s love, not in titles or achievements.

The descending way is not self-hatred—it’s self-emptying for the sake of love. It’s choosing humility over recognition, service over status, trust over control. And in the paradox of the Gospel, this way down is the path that lifts us into the fullness of life.

Scripture

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.

Philippians 2:5–8 

He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.

Ephesians 4:10 

Ancient Quotes

A man becomes humble not by thinking less of himself but by forgetting himself in the love of God.

Bernard of Clairvaux, On Humility and Pride, Ch. 1

The spiritual life is not a process of addition, but of subtraction.

Meister Eckhart, Sermons

Modern Quotes

Grace, like water, flows to the lowest place, and there it pools.

Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer, 1999, p. 127

I need one small humiliation each day to keep me humble.

Richard Rohr, Living School Teaching

Journaling Prompts

• Where in your life are you being invited to descend rather than climb?
  
  
• What have you learned about God through experiences of humility or loss?
  
  
• In what ways does “going down” actually free you?

👉 Go deeper into this week’s theme:
Read the full Week 25 Reflection: Letting Go/Surrender