Our loving Father, come and dwell with us. As we walk through the day, as we read your word, as we prepare for activities, may your spirit speak strongly and clearly to everyone of us today. Oh God, may a great move of your love take place today and may you use your vessels to complete it. We pray that souls would be saved and your children would grow even in this hour Lord. We love you and we thank you for all you have done in our lives, in Jesus name, Amen.
I think I'm a really good writer. I also think that I'm pretty smart when it comes to reading the Bible. In other words, I'm prideful. There are a lot of things in life that I think I have reason to be prideful about. I think I have the right to be prideful about my girlfriend, my hobbies, my abilities, and my looks. However, what I think is not necessarily truth so I could easily be wrong in thinking these things about myself, and I am. My brothers and sisters, I hope you learn to not be prideful as you walk next to God's grace, but are humbled by the greatness of our God. I ask myself why I am so prideful when I have spent time in the presence of God, how is such a thing even possible? I am so small and he is so big, and this should force me to humility, but pride remains as the biggest struggle in my life.
Thankfully, God deals with his children's pride. If you are a child of God, God will knock you down when you become prideful, and it isn't gonna feel good. If you aren't a child of God, God will let you continue in your sinful, evil ways and you will continue being selfish into eternity. The children of God are so blessed in being knocked down when they get too high up. God doesn't do this because he wants to see you suffer; God doesn't knock you down when you become prideful because he even necessarily enjoys disciplining; God knocks you down when you become prideful so that you will have the opportunity of understanding how great God is. God humbles his children so that his children, in their humility, will know the greatness of the Father in comparison to their own filth.
I think their is a popular belief that humility is thinking less of oneself. Let me quote C.S. Lewis: "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less." As C.S. Lewis would agree, this belief I mentioned is a misunderstanding of what humility is. You can be humble and realize you are a good writer, or a good speaker, or a good singer. You can realize that God has gifted you greatly and still be humble. However, you cannot believe you have been saved by your own works and not the grace of God, and still remain humble. Humility is holding an accurate view of yourself and God, whereas pride is holding a higher view of yourself than is accurate.
People are humble when they realize that they have sinned, and everyone has. When a person realizes they have sinned, they can now realize they are lower than God and unworthy to be saved. Once a person realizes they are not worthy to be saved and their good works amount to nothing, they have become humble because they hold an accurate view of who they are. This is why a truly humble person desires God to work through them, because man can do nothing good on his own. God is also humble because he thinks of himself correctly. He knows he is a perfect being who is worthy of praise. In having an accurate view of who he is, he is humble, and in man realizing how great God is, humility should ensue.
Do not be prideful my beloved. Pride is a straight path that leads downhill. It is easy to walk but unrewarding in the end. Without realizing there is a God greater than you, you must began to depend upon yourself and your own abilities, this is the birth of pride. With the birth of pride comes a lonely and hopeless life. My brothers and sisters, I urge you, do not be prideful but rejoice when you are weak and give thanks when God grants strength.
"Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you." - James 4:10
No comments:
Post a Comment