The Bible is not a book full of clever maxims, helpful suggestions, or do’s and don’ts—it is the book of LIFE! As such, its many principles and paradoxes challenge our human thinking: when we give, we receive; when we lose ourselves, we find ourselves; to be rich, we must become poor; exalting ourselves, we’ll be humbled, but humbling ourselves, we’ll be exalted.
God longs to fill us and be part of all we do, all we are, and all we become, but His hands are tied if we’re hanging on to our human pride. When we think our ways are better than His and fail to lay down our preconceived ideas and rationalizations rather than accept His truth, He can’t go to work. Relying solely on intellect, talents, relationships, possessions, or wealth to make it through life fails to put us in a position to receive the fulness of grace, peace, and blessing He longs to give us.
The solution? Humility.
Humility is a characteristic God values highly, because He knows He can work with those of a humble heart. Only when we recognize the poverty of our own souls do we realize our desperate need for a Savior.
There’s a wonderful peace when we can honestly approach God, life, and one another with humility. Humility isn’t denying your strengths; it’s being honest about your weaknesses. Humble servants of God recognize that by themselves they can do nothing. Their strength and enablement come from Him alone.
In one of his writings, well-known South African pastor Andrew Murray (1828-1917) describes the Christian heart of humility and the wonderful peace it brings to the soul:
Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.
Are there areas in your life in which pride still has you holding on to the reins? Perhaps it’s time to release them into the Master’s hands.
“And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5 NLT)
With open arms He’s standing ready to shower your life with grace, to give you perfect quietness of heart, and to fill you with His peace “when all around and above is trouble.”
God values humility.
Thanks, Cheryl. “Humility isn’t denying your strengths; it’s being honest about your weaknesses.” Good food for thought.