This week I want to begin by listing a group of verses. Why? I believe I need to list them because we struggle with actually believing what God has said. Sure, we nod our head and say, “Amen!” However, when it comes to doing this… I just don’t think we really understand why God asks us to do this. What is this difficult call of God? Simple humility.
Matthew 5:5 5 “Blessed are the gentle [meek, humble], for they shall inherit the earth.
James 4:6 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
James 4:10 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
1 Peter 5:5-7 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Do we really struggle with humility? You bet we do. In our culture, we honor humble people in speeches, but our titans of industry and leaders of culture rarely copy them. Instead, those leaders use power and force to accomplish their goals. What do we, the rank and file, do with those leaders? We honor them by buying their products and voting them into office! It’s little wonder that our young adults and children are confused. Out of one side of our mouth we extol the virtue of humility, but out of the other side of our mouth we reward the opposite. Do you see what I mean about struggling with humility?!
I would compare it to being a shepherd in Israel during the time of David. People during those days would extol the virtues of hard work and simple living that exemplified being a shepherd. However, much of the work of a shepherd would make them ritually unclean and exclude them from public life and public worship! So, the idea of being a shepherd was idealized but in reality shepherds were ostracized. Who wants to do that?!
This is our struggle with humility. Since we have cut humility off from why we should be humble, it has become a bit of a mystery to us. Our Bible tells us to embrace it. Our world tells us it is good but optional. Which is it?
Perhaps we can understand why we should embrace humility when we look at the verses I have highlighted above. Notice the common thread in each one. That thread is dependence upon God. Even Matthew 5 points us there because how does one inherit anything? It is a gift bestowed by someone else! Have you ever asked, “From whom will I inherit the earth if I am meek?”
You see, we embrace humility because in humility we point our world to God. Humility is the lever that turns self-praise in to God-praise. Humility is the attitude that turns selfishness into generosity. Humility is the action that turns focus on me into focus on Him. This is why Christians should embrace it! Not because humility gives us rewards or gets our way faster or forces people to listen to us. No, we embrace humility because we truly want others to see Jesus instead of us.
Now the hard question… Do we truly want others to see Jesus instead of us?
Something to think about,
Pastor John
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