I have mentioned before that my 2021 New Year’ s resolution was to be a more humble person. I prayed for humility, and still to this day, I think that’s worse than praying for patience. That year was clearly the worst year of my life. I was being sucked up into a tornado of issues, and I tried to grasp anything I could hold onto as soon as possible. This led to my life being full of some intense pride triggered by competition and comparisons. I was obsessed with control, but every time I had control, I failed. I needed to let go.
In college, I was surrounded by a lot of people who had similar morals as myself, but very different religious views. When talking about love and how we treat people, I was told, “I know that I’m a good person by how I treat people. I treat them as I would want to be treated, but it wasn’t to please some higher power. It was because I wanted to. That’s how I know that I’m a good person.” Wow–there’s a whole lot of “I” in that statement. Another statement that crushed me in college was from a colleague that was referring to Jesus’s death on the cross. He said, “I should not be held responsible or be made to feel guilty for a murder that happened 2,000 years ago.” These are some very self-focused, prideful statements from non-Christian folks, but how often do we hear people claiming to follow Christ make statements that sound just like these? The only difference is, they may throw in a few verses to justify their statements.
Over the years, I’ve heard from a lot of people who no longer go to church state that the reason they don’t go to church anymore is because, “Churches have become a hotel for saints rather than a hospital for sinners.” In Luke 18:9-14, we have two people that entered the temple to check in. The Pharisee came in to show his gratitude to God for his uniqueness to choose the narrow path when the rest of the world chose the easy route. He continued in prayer reminding God of all the good deeds that he had done. “I am not a robber, I refrain from evil, I don’t lust after things I don’t have…I fast more than what’s been required, and I give to the church every Sunday as you’ve asked.” (verse 11-12). The tax collector stood in the back of the temple, away from everyone else in there. He wouldn’t even look up at everyone else in the temple. When he finally was able to murmur something out of his mouth, he said, “God, have mercy on me…” and then pay attention to how he referred to himself at the end of verse 13, “….a sinner.”
There is nothing wrong with showing gratitude to our God for all of the blessings He has bestowed upon us. Before 2021, I was in the same position as Pharisee. It was when everything around me started to fall apart and I was made weak that I saw how strong my God really was.
Faith is not just believing that God exists. It’s believing all that God says and then acting on that belief. We say that people have “lost their faith,” but the older I get, the more I see that faith is a foundation of action rather than a declaration of words. When the storms come, if you are able to relinquish control and humbly allow those storms to mold you, then your faith is made strong enough to carry out the will of God and produce fruit of the Kingdom. So, you see? You can’t have faith without humility. Otherwise, it’s just believing in something because you were told to believe something; it’s comfortable, so you do it.
Humility is letting go of ourselves and worldly distractions and trade it for gratitude. This includes letting go of control. In Isaiah 55:8-9, God lets us know that it’s okay. You Creator says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
There was a meteor shower scheduled one night when I was in high school. The girls decided to watch this starry show on top of our friends’ barn. Everything below was pitch black which allowed the stars to shine as bright as LED bulbs. Even before the falling stars began, I was moved by how small I was compared to how massive the night sky was. The creator of my small body living on my tiny planet that is just a speck in the entire universe…all of that was made by the Creator who not only found purpose in me, but loved me even when I stray from that purpose.
There was a purpose in looking straight up that night. In Psalms 121:1-2, the psalmist humbly writes, “I lift my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and earth.” We noticed in the story of the Pharisee and tax collector that something was very important about the direction they were looking. The Pharisee was looking around at other people. He said in Luke 18:11, “I thank you that I’m not like other people…or even like this tax collector.” Humility easily disappears when you are comparing yourself to other people, but if you focus on comparing yourself to Jesus, you will discover that you stay humble longer. Where was the tax collector looking? Luke 18:13 says that the tax collector wouldn’t even look up. He came to the temple to be made holy by God, and he admitted that out loud. There is such power in confession. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
We live in a society where we walk around on egg shells on people in order to keep their mental state stable. We protect people from pain by using excuses and lies (yes, lies are the unspoken truth) because we fear that the truth might not convey love or acceptance. The Bible never talks about love and acceptance being the same thing. It also never talks about self-love. Love is something that you give away in service and there is where you are filled with self love: out of obedience. You know who created this plan? The God who created you. Thank goodness Nathan didn’t let his fears creep in while approaching David. That would have certainly altered the future!
While we stop practicing justifications for our sins and start relying on our faith that pain is a part of our growing faith, let’s adopt this idea of a humble heart. Psalms 23 explains that we are sheep. If a shepherd were to describe a sheep, he would probably use terms like, “stupid” and “incompetent.” Why? Because sheep have a habit of doing what they want because they don’t know what they don’t know. Or maybe, they know but just don’t care. A sheep’s safety relies on the obedience of the shepherd. We see in Psalms 23 that our Shepherd wants nothing but comfort for us. All the positive attributes listed in this chapter come from the Shepherd. All the negatives like “Walking through the valley of the shadow of death,” come from choices the sheep made.
The great Shepherd set the best example of humility for us. From the moment He breathed in human form, He showed signs of humility. Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That kind of royalty wouldn’t choose to be born in a manger with animals, but my Jesus did. This King also ate with sinners, washed feet of those considered, “lesser than,” and saw value in Samaritan women. Not to mention, He was crucified on a cross in between two thieves that deserved the cruelest of punishments. Humility is sacrificing self for others. Jesus showed us that that includes those moments in which we don’t have time or means to sacrifice and specifically for those people who don’t deserve it.
We’re a people in need of humility! Here’s a list of ingredients to put in your humble pie in order to give you good practice on building a life of humility:
1. Look for opportunities to express gratitude.
2. Listen to other people. Listen with an open mind to hear; don’t listen to talk.
3. Appreciate the little blessings.
4. Admitting when it’s your fault and accept the blame.
5. Giving credit to others when credit is due; and sometimes when it isn’t, if it will lift that person up.
6. Trusting in God’s plan even when it doesn’t make sense.
7. Showing love to others.
8. Have patience with people.
9. Sacrifice things you want to do to spend time with other people.
10. Refrain from showing pride or arrogance.
There’s an episode of The Office where Dwight and Andy are competing in a “Favor Swap.” It started out with Dwight’s intention to do nice things for people so that they would “owe” him. But when he did something nice for Andy, the idea became contagious. Andy started doing things for Dwight just to be kind. It’s so funny because they both were trying to “one up” the other in doing things to make the other person’s life easier.
Let’s take the Favor Swap challenge, but don’t think of it like a competition. Philippians 2:3-4 “Don’t do anything only to get ahead. Don’t do it because you are proud. Instead, be humble. Value others more than yourselves. None of you should look out just for your own good. Each of you should also look out for the good of others.” This applies to your friends, husband, wife, mom, dad, acquaintances, children, and even those that try to bring you down.
The world says that lifting up those who hurt you makes you a pushover. But Jesus says, “All those who lift themselves up will be made humble. And those who make themselves humbled will be lifted up.” (Luke 14:11) We don’t see specific details of what this looks like, but I can give a testimony. The conversations in which I’ve talked about myself and accomplishments I’ve made left me feeling shallow and empty at the end of the conversation. The conversations that I’ve asked about other people, their happenings, and celebrated their accomplishments, I leave feeling a sense of fullness. That’s because my humble purpose was fulfilled and brought glory to the Father.
Because of Jesus’ stand, He deserves the ultimate praise and gratitude from us. He showed love and humility when He went to the cross for our sins. He asks that we humbly, “deny ourselves…” our desires, our time, our comfort, our pride, our accolades, and “pick up [our] cross and follow [Him].” (Matthew 16:24
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