As I write this blog post to you, I'm listening to S.O's new album "So it Ends". You guys should definitely go check it out! For a while the topic of humility has been popping up very often, from Bible study group discussions to my own devotional time. I am so excited *skips all over blogger* to share with you all what I have learnt thus far about humility (P.S I do believe that there is still so much more to learn about this topic). Enough of my excitement! I pray that as you all read this blog post the Lord will reveal to you the areas you need to submit to Him and let Him work on.
What is humility?
Humility
is lowliness of oneself, not your worth but your lowliness in comparison to
that of the Creator. When we are humble or rather expressing true humility we
realise that we are nothing without God and that we need Him. Humility is about
putting your total dependence on God and not on yourself. Proverbs 3:5-6
says that we should trust in the Lord and not to lean on to our own
understanding (see how humility comes in this sense, we don’t rely on self but
rely on God). Humility acknowledges that Christ is Sovereign. When we recognise
that Christ is Sovereign over all, the need for self-praise is removed from
one’s life, as the praise goes to the Lord.
Amanda Cook from Bethel music describes
humility as true intimacy with Christ. What I believe she means by this is that,
because you have this close relationship, this intimate relationship with Him
you are able to recognise that He is in control (recognising the work He did on the cross). You are able to hear His voice
and trust Him. You are able to rely on Him completely and not on yourself.
Humility should not make us passive or
timid. When people think of humility some of the things that come to mind is
that you have to be quiet and timid. Well if I am timid that goes against what
the Bible says, because in Joshua 1:9 the word says that we should be strong and
courageous. Courage is the opposite of being timid and if we aren't brave, we
can’t step out in boldness and share God’s word. When we are timid we open up three doors. Doors of fear, worry and doubt to come into our lives and that
is not something we want! So don’t ever think that in order for you to be
humble, you have to be timid or passive. Be strong and courageous and active
about your faith in Jesus Christ.
I was reading a scripture in 1 Peter 5 and it was talking about how we should follow the example of Christ, who
was the perfect example of what humility looks like. From this scripture there is an instruction, an obstacle and a reward.
Instruction
The instruction that we receive from this
scripture is that we are to clothe ourselves with humility. The reason we wear
clothes is to cover ourselves (well for some people they tend to do the
opposite). The type of clothes you wear can tell a lot about you as person. For
example, wearing a lot of vintage clothing shows that you are into vintage,
wearing only black colours may show you like only black (This might not always
be the case, but I'm sure you all get what I mean). In the same way, when we
clothe ourselves with humility this can allow others to know more about who we
are. By clothing ourselves with humility it should be one of the first things that
people recognise about us (that is we treat them with care and respect
regardless of the positions that they may have). We should be ecstatic about wearing this beautiful clothing of humility. (Similarity is shown in John 13:3-5).
Obstacle
Pride is the opposite of being humble and
when we become prideful we stop focusing on Christ and focus on ourselves. How
familiar is this to all of us. Look at Satan, the master of pride. It was
because of his pride that he was kicked out of Heaven (see Isaiah 14:12-14 and
Ezekiel 28:12-18). Satan became so proud that he was thinking of himself and
what he could get. He wanted to be like God, in fact he wanted to be God. In the same way, when we think
about our self we become consumed with thoughts of our self. What we want. What
is best for us. What we should do. And the list goes on. This ends up with
there being no space for thoughts about Christ as we have shoved Him aside to accommodate
self-thoughts. We become so self-centered. We push God away and are basically
saying to that we don’t need Him. That we are perfect and we can do everything
by ourselves. No sweetheart, let’s see how long you can do that before actually
come to the realisation that you are nothing without Christ. Pride is giving
our selves credit for something that was intended for God’s glory. It is
keeping the Glory to ourselves and not giving it to God. And this my dear
friends can hinder us from receiving the blessings the Lord has in store and
also bring us into opposition with God (it leads us away from Christ, which is
sin).
Reward
The ultimate reward of true humility is
that you will be exalted in due time. Notice it says “He” will exalt you in due time, not yourself but God will exalt
you in His timing. Now you see the beauty of this is that when we are prideful
we fail and fall horribly (Proverbs 16:18-19), but when we are humble God rewards
us with grace and this grace gives us contentment, security and godliness. (Basically
what I said but in another way: Humility will lead to more grace, holiness and
peace being bestowed unto you, for those who are prideful will receive destruction).
Looking at King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4, we see where he knew about the
Sovereignty of God but he decided to neglect this and still be prideful. So the
Lord dealt with him according. Nebuchadnezzar was praising himself for building
Babylon, see Daniel 4:28. And as soon as he said this, the dream he had which Daniel
interpreted came to pass. Can you imagine, this King went from eating at his
fine table eating them fancy delicacies to now eating grass like an ox (talk about being brought low). The Lord
gave him this authority to be king, Daniel 1:2, however took it away from him
as pride took the place of humility. However, in due time the Lord restored
Nebuchadnezzar back to his position (Daniel 4:37).
How can we be truly humble and allow pride to starve?
Jesus did not come to be served but he
came to serve. Just as how Christ came to serve we should adopt this trait and
serve those around us in all lowliness of mind and always consider them better
than ourselves-Philippians 2:3
Abiding in The Lord and drawing near to Him
John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the
branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart
from me you can do nothing”. There is no way we
can be truly humble if we don’t abide in Christ. Humility is a part of who is
His and by abiding in Him, which means to continue/live/remain in Him, we are
able to be more like Him. Often times we can neglect or rather disregard correction
from wise counsel and that in itself can lead to pride. To overcome this, we
can draw near to God and in doing so He will ultimately change our hearts with
how receptive we are to correction.
Not just an outward action-be honest with yourself
The Lord searches and knows the heart of
everyone. So we may think that humility is just an outward action, however that
is not entirely true. Humility, true humility comes from the heart. One can have an
outward appearance of "seeming to be humble" but in their hearts, pride still
remains.
Jeremiah 17:10 “But I, the Lord, search all hearts
and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to
what their actions deserve." Someone can say that they are humble, however
in their hearts they are full of pride and arrogance. Let’s recognise
that our hearts can be deceitful, so we need to ask the Lord daily to remove
everything that is not like Him. Do not and I repeat do not go after what your
heart says. I often hear people say follow your heart. How about we follow what
the Holy Spirit is saying (maybe then we will make better decisions in life). Humility
is a heart attitude, whatever is on the inside of your heart will show forth on
the outside.
Recognising who you are in Christ and thinking about others
Some people believe that when you are
humble you think lowly of yourself in the sense that you are worth nothing. Let’s
not get this twisted guys. Humility as said before is about being lowly in spirit
in the sense that you recognise that Christ is Sovereign, you submit to and
obey His will. This does not in any way, shape or form mean that you are worth
nothing. You are worth a lot to the Father. Just understand that humility has nothing
to do with you thinking that you are worth nothing, but you acknowledging the Lord
as Sovereign (total dependence on Him and not on oneself). Philippians 2:1-4
sums up what a humble person looks like. Humble people are not selfish and are
not concerned with themselves but with other people (they are constantly
thinking of serving and helping others). Humility should not be about
impressing other people so we can be praised for being humble (Proverbs 27:1-2).
They don’t try and impress others, rather they do it as an act of service. They
don’t have the mind-set of getting something in return if they have done a good
deed. See Matthew 6:1
I pray that the Lord will break us open
and reveal to us the areas in our lives where we have become prideful. I pray
that He replaces that pride with humility and a servant heart.
Love and blessings
Shelly
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