Humility

I listened to a wonderful sermon on Sunday regarding humility.  I found it difficult to really focus on the sermon as much as several key relationships I have developed and struggled to listen to the sermon as much as wonder what those people were thinking of the sermon.  It’s frustrating to listen to a sermon that way, all the while knowing that the sermon is just as – if not more – applicable to me.  I hope the sermon was a blessing to those persons, and it is internalized rather than applied to others in the same way I immediately did.

After writing and expanding on several points in the sermon that stuck out to me, I was relieved to realize that just pondering about them exposed a lot of my own faults and forget about the others mentioned in the first paragraph.  I thank God for His grace and mercy that even though the sermon was focused on people in leadership, its relevance to all Christians is clear.  I hope my summation of the points is as helpful to you as it was for me to work through them.

Practicing humility often includes turning your critics into your coaches.  Often times our critics raise concerns about us and how we act.  We may not agree with them, but it is extremely beneficial to try and examine ourselves through their context and understanding.  When we respond with anger and saying, “I’ve been doing this since I was a teenager and I don’t have to answer to anyone,” we should be wary of ourselves and question; what is more important, our pride or our humility?   We should not assume our critics are trying to control us; rather they are concerned for our well being and seeing well come from us.  Why else would they have anything to say?  It is true some take joy in judging others, but is it not worthwhile to consider their words rather than repay their evil for evil?  Let us be humble and upright, concerning ourselves with the critiques of others and holding the glory of God close to our heart.

Those who are humble enjoy preaching and practicing repentance.  Repentance is something I have mentioned before in my writing, so I will not delve too deep into it now.  Suffice to say however, it is not beneficial to merely preach it.  It must be practiced, particularly towards those we love the most and those whom we lead.  We cannot give up when we fail, but continue trying.  I am a sinner, wrecked by the fall and I continue to do that which I know I should not; but if my response was to give up, I would continue to live in sin and forget my Redeemer.  We have the power, through Christ, to overcome our laziness.  Pray to Him for strength, meditate upon His goodness and go forward with the desire to do right.  We will not continually succeed, but that is no reason to run farther into sin.

Those who are humble enjoy submitting to Godly authority in and out of the church.  There is no question in my mind that submitting to the church is a reasonable and good thing to most Christians.  Too often however, we refuse to submit to anyone outside of what we consider to be an authority in the church.  We are eager to set ourselves up as Kings and refuse to submit.  We loathe the idea of submitting to one another.  I think scripture calls us to something more.  It is not enough to merely be willing to submit to Godly authority, we should actively seek Godly authority and enjoy receiving counsel.  We should enjoy trying to submit to one another in love, honoring those who are important to us.

Humility leads to the enjoyment of learning at least as much as teaching.  Give up your pride, you don’t know everything.  If an opportunity comes to learn and examine yourself, it is good to take it. What could be more frustrating than a Christian who thinks their knowledge and understanding of the Gospel is complete?

Enjoy Jesus’ glory more than theirs, their churches or their traditions.  It’s not enough to want to glorify God; we have to glorify God more than ourselves.  Our boundless pride, the perfection of our church and the trenches we’ve dug with our traditions should be negligible when compared to the love we have for the exultation of the one God.