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."

 

When Pride Hurts

Buildings sometimes implode. They collapse, leaving a mess to clean up so the rebuilding process can begin. Comparitively, the same thing happens in our lives from time to time whether it be self inflicted or just part of the natural cycle of life. One thing is for sure, if you're not going through a rebuilding process now, you just came out of one, and if neither of those is the case unfortunately you're headed there. Though the degree and magnitude of the collapse will be a variable, the only hope of recovery we have is to see it all through the lens of a faithful and loving God.

As Christians we have an advantage that other folks do not have. We have experienced salvation, we know that God has a purpose and plan for us, and we have the Word of God to stand on. We don't have the luxury of going backwards or staying idle for a long period of time because as I've said before, God is not interested in us functioning at half or less than half of our full potential. That means He will do whatever is necessary to get our attention and to get us back on the path He destined us to be walking. He may attempt to use the garden snips to prune or He may need to bring out the chainsaw. At worst, the rug can be pulled out from under you so fast that you land on your face.

To the particulars...

As men I wouldn't be going to far out on a limb in saying that our biggest issue is pride. Pride comes in many shapes, sizes, and colors. We don't like to lose at anything. Whether it be a game of Madden NFL 2013 or a friendly game of go fish. We feel the pressure managing the finances for the family, when our children get out of line, and of course in our careers. Those are obvious outward materials that affect our pride. The not so obvious pride creeper, is the wall that erects in our spiritual life. That wall makes us Bible scholars, teachers, arrogant know it alls, unteachable, not willing to take the advice of others, and gradually and eventually weans us away from our Source. This has to be the thing that hardens most hearts of men and the dangerous snare that leads to most downfalls.

Thank God that if your heart is pliable the wall can come down and the rebuilding process can begin. The greatest example of this in the Bible would have to be Peter. The man was so sure that He wouldn't deny Christ. "How could you dare to say such a thing Lord? You know me. I'm the rock."  I'm paraphrasing but you get the point. We know that Peter did in fact deny Jesus. Now, think about that. Denying Jesus after being the greatest Apostle has to be one of the worst implosions and trainwrecks of all time, at least in Peter's mind. The Lord knew how to get Peter's attention and it was needed in order to get Peter back on track and dependent on the Source.

Proverbs 16:18, "Pride leads to destruction, and arrogance to downfall." The downfall usually involves sin. We choose to sin when we attempt to meet our needs apart from God. When we choose to meet our needs apart from God something has gone terribly wrong. If we choose not to acknowledge our sin and take action, it will be done for us. Again, thank God. Faith in Christ brings many new things- a relationship with God, a new spirit, a new outlook on life, but it does not eradicate all traces of our old nature. That is done through intentional devotion, renewing the mind via the Word, and valley experiences.

When we repent of our bad experiences, God uses them to make us stronger, as the case with Peter. He doesn't excuse them or remove the consequences, but He is bigger than our failures. We create some messes, make some mistakes, and commit some sins simply because of our own weaknesses, flaws, or rebellion. Yet God allows us to fall into some because He knows that when we come back, we will be stronger, our perspective will be deeper, and our commitment will be truer. It teaches us something about ourselves and about God. We may fail but we are not failures. Seek God in and through the mess. We all fall short but God is greater still. He will restore and He still has a plan. God is good, His faitful love endures forever.

Transformed

"But let He who boasts boast of this; that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth: for in these things I delight says the LORD."

-Jeremiah 9:24