Gospel Humble

Would like to take a moment and thank the new readers and subscribers, and also the faithful few, you're awesome. My goal is to provide you with top notch content that will encourage, inspire, and add value to your life. This will not be just another blog,  I promise. Writing affords me the opportunity to learn and go to the experts, libraries, and the Bible in search for answers. With that, this will probably be my last post on blogger. I will be transitioning to Wordpress in the coming months.

It's hard to make it through one day without feeling snubbed, or ignored, or getting down ourselves. My friends, the ego often hurts. It is void, inflated, busy, and delicate. It's all jacked up. It always makes us think how we look and how we feel, it's constantly drawing attention to itself. When incubated long enough, the ego produces pride, and I'm not referring to the good kind of pride. "I'm really proud of the job I did today." No, I'm referring to the ugly, and it's defined as a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority. Augustine said, "It's the love of one's own excellence." Now if I were a tea drinker, I'd take a sip with my pinky up.

I write this week to those who struggle with pride, to those who seem to connect every experience with themselves. I write to you, I write to myself. Pride camouflages itself and creeps in as simply passion and hard work, but overtakes the soul as compliments, prestige, and the limelight distort our vision. Ever thought it was a great idea to share your greatest achievements and your vast extensive knowledge? Only to realize how foolish you were soon after? I'm guilty. The purpose of this post is to help us side step foolishness and provide the sustenance necessary to make the "ugly" pride in our lives, a thing of the past.

In his book the Freedom of Self Forgetfulness, author Tim Keller says,

"Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next person. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good looking, there would be nothing to be proud about. " In other words, we are only proud of being more successful, more intelligent, or more good looking than the next person, and when we are in the presence of someone of who is more successful, intelligent, and good looking than we are, we lose all the pleasure we had.

Poof...can you smell the gun smoke?

The dictionary defines humility as having a “low view of one’s own importance.” But the Latin root of the word, means “to lower yourself,” or as Professor John Dickson advises, "It's the noble choice to forgo your status, deploy your resources, and use your influence for the good of others before yourself." CS Lewis goes on to say, "If we truly met a humble person, we would never come away thinking they were humble. They would not always be telling us they were a nobody. The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel-humble person is how much they seemed to be to be totally interested in us. Because the essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less."

 A gospel humble person doesn't need to connect every experience and every conversation with themselves. They stop thinking thoughts such as , "I'm in this room with these people, does that make me look good? Do I want to be here?" According to Phillip Brooks, "The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is." True humility is the attitude and practice of putting others first, no matter who they are. It's Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. That is humility. Jesus didn't forget who He was or what He was capable of, He simply chose to serve and lead by example. Shouldn't we? He said, "A student is not greater than his teacher, nor a slave His master."

What can we do?

• Simple and effective, pray for humility everyday. Can you honestly say, "Give me neither poverty nor riches, just give me my daily bread?" (We're not praying to be poor, we're saying, "Our main focus is You, and I want a God-shaped heart") 

•  Don't worry what others are thinking about you. They're simply thinking about  themselves like everyone else. 

• Welcome criticism, because there are no shortcuts to growth. It isn't much fun to hear it, but I know of nothing else that inspires change like well received constructive criticism.

• You don't always have to know the answer, risk looking stupid. You will learn something new and you'll naturally be more approachable by those around you. Be honest with yourself, and be known for who you really are.

"The Lord is good and does what is right; He shows the proper path to those who go astray. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way."

 

Change Small

It has been said that if we cease to change and grow we already have one foot in the grave. That isn't an ideal place for your foot to be, nor any other part of your body. While it's a good thing to periodically ask ourselves "Who am I?", more importantly it's essential we ask, "Who am I becoming?" Those of us who are honest, could find at least one, if not many "things" or areas of our lives we would like to change and improve. Unfortunately, the status quo is for folks to get stuck and remain complacent, while clinging to the desire to change. Hope is not a strategy, and there are a couple reasons most folks don't continue to improve or better themselves. Number one, is because they try ten different things at one time. Number two, is because they keep one eye on where they are and the other eye on their past. I write this week, to those who have one eye on where they are and one eye on where they want to go.

Tony Evans writes,

"If you want a better world composed of better nations, inhabited by better states, filled with better counties, made up of better cities, comprised of better neighborhoods, illuminated by better churches, populated by better families, then you'll have to start by becoming a better person."

Successful people are realistic about their problems and areas of weakness but find ways to resolve them.
Albert Einstein said, "It's not so much that I'm a genius, I just stick with problems longer than anyone else." The tallest hurdle we have to get over is sticking with a discipline through failure. We give up to easily when the going gets tough and if we fail once, it's all over. What's the thing you know is a problem but just can't seem to overcome? What are some of the darker areas of your life you want to shine brighter? The key to change is to start small, and stay the course. If you fail, learn the lesson and forget the details.

Let me give you an example...

This isn't going to be shocking to most who know me, but I'm not much of a conversation starter. Some may even call me anti-social and I'm fine with that, it's true. I would be perfectly happy not saying a word to anyone, ever. I could just nod or smile, and go about my business. I get stressed when I have to talk to folks, not sure exactly why but either way  I'm not proud of it and it's something I need to change. Obviously I can't change over night, but by taking small steps in the right direction I can overcome the defect.

This may sound cheesy, but indulge me for a moment. Changing small to me means introducing myself to folks I have never met. I try to follow through with at least one person everyday. This is most definitely out of my comfort zone, but the more I take the initiative to speak with others, the easier it will be to communicate naturally. The gym is my location of preference, remember small steps. It dawned on me a while back that I had been working out with the same group of people for almost two years and have never talked to any of them. Just a lot of grunts and glamour shots in the mirrors, neither of which I do by the way. (Unless of course nobody is around) The first time I followed through, I met a guy who knew my grandfather and had brushed shoulders with him in business a few times, pretty amazing.

Michael de Montaingne says, "No wind favors him who has no destined port." Likewise, success is connected to action.  If you don't feel like talking to a pastor, do it anyway, more than likely it will be the best conversation you've had in your life. When you don't feel like going to the gym, go anyway. It doesn't matter if you simply walk around in there for a few minutes, you went and perhaps even worked out a little. If you don't feel up to reading that book, do it anyway. Even if it's just a few words, the point is you read and perhaps learned more than expected or got an idea that will change your life forever. When you don't feel like practicing the guitar do it anyway. Little and often makes a lot in time. You don't have to hit a home run every time, consistent singles will do the trick. Or as Aristotle observed, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."

The process begins with one book, one mile, one smoke, one meal, one friend, one prayer. Whatever it is you would like to change, just begin and change small. In time you'll develop the qualities you admire and it will change you from who you were to who you desired to become. Might I suggest something else? Surround yourself with people who will hold you accountable. It does the body good to hear a dose of truth every now and then. If you're not following through on your commitments, hearing it from someone else will make it clearer. Though it may hurt briefly, it's the intake system that drives motivation. Remember, we want to change! I encourage you to begin the process this year. Take the first step and then learn from your mistakes. If you fail, correct your course and try again.

"Unless the LORD had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave."
-Psalm 94:17

May God Bless you in 2014 and may you seek and walk out His will.
PS: There's an army rising up...