Word of the Week - Humility
"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 14:11
Humility – In January of this year I shared a word of the week on Humility, see below. Since then, I have personally learned more about humility as I am navigating through a season of pruning. As I reflect over the past few months, I realize that being humbled is a large part of the pruning process and likely why it is so painful. Realizing that we have limitations in life and from time-to-time certain things need to be trimmed or removed from our lives is a humbling process. “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” John 15:1-2 Even though I think the Word I shared back in January is good and accurate, I have learned more on this virtue that I would like to share.
Humility is not weakness perse’ but it is a mindset of brokenness and surrender – Jesus was meek but not weak. He had all the power of the universe at his disposal but chose to be sacrificed as a lamb led to the slaughter. There were times that he showed his strength and power, like when He entered the temple and flipped over the money changer tables because people were not honoring the house of God, but for the most part He lived a life of surrender and total dependance on God the Father. God has reinforced in me that humility comes when we are surrendered (realized we are not in control) and dependent (out of the mode of self-reliance). Outside of my walk with the Lord this is somewhat of a foreign concept for me. I have been trained most of my life to pull up my bootstraps, take charge and make it happen. This approach has worked well for me in many aspects of my life. As followers of Christ this approach is flawed and surely not humble. First of all, God is our provider and has given us all that we possess so even when He allows us to accomplish things it is because of how He has gifted us. Secondly and most importantly, we really don’t control anything except maybe our attitude. Thus, we lack humility if we really believe that we are calling the shots and forget that God is our provider, and we are and have nothing apart from Him. “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all things and He will direct your paths and keep them straight”. Proverbs 3:5-6
Humble yourself or you will be humbled – Ultimately, I don’t think humility is optional for those who are in Christ,. I truly believe that if we stay the course in our walk with the Lord, we will have to humble ourselves or God will humble us. I would go as far as to say all of God’s children are humbled along the path of maturing as a believer. There are lots of stories in the bible of great men of God being humbled, King David and Saint Peter come to mind. I believe this is part of process of being sanctified. Like all things in God’s economy, there are surely degrees of humility, and I am not sure any of us ever achieve humility in its fullness this side of heaven. That being said, there are lots of ways that Jesus demonstrated humility and we can surely learn from Him.
The following are a few ways that I am learning about how we can humble ourselves:
Being willing to share weaknesses and be transparent, even in my failures
Obeying out of a love motive, because I desire to not because I have to
Looking to the Lord to fulfill me rather than trying to be fulfilled by people, performance, and accomplishments
Willing to receive my trials as God’s instrument to perfect me
Willing to not be defensive or to justify myself, willing to be misunderstood and be ok
Relinquishing control and being comfortable with others fixing and directing
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up”. James 4:10
Have a great week.
-Duane