Humility, Part 1

Humility (noun)
1. The quality or condition of being humble.
2. The state or character of being humble; freedom from pride and arrogance; lowliness of mind; a low estimate of one’s self; self-abasement.
3. An act of submission.

I have been humbled greatly over the years with one circumstance after another. And today I stand before you clothed in humility. The last couple of days have been difficult for me.

At 60 years old, I’m still not beyond being humbled. I am not above being able to say I’m wrong when I am. I still am…a lot. I will often apologize even when I’ve done nothing wrong…just to keep peace. That’s not always a good thing but it’s who I am.

I admit I have had a haughty, prideful, arrogant spirit periodically and all through my life. Thankfully, the spirit of haughtiness isn’t around as often as it once was because I have been put in my place so many times, both publicly and privately. And after, oh….thirty or fifty times, you begin to realize you really don’t know so much.

The Bible talks extensively about humility. It’s only when we have set aside pride and arrogance that God can truly use us.

There was once a hot biblical topic that I fought against, or for…depending on how you looked at it. And I fought diligently. No one was going to convince me that I was wrong in my thinking. I made complete sense…to myself. I was happy in my little world. But it was because of pride that I didn’t want to consider anything contrary. Nor did I listen. And this went on for more than a couple of years.

Finally, an older man took me under his wing and gently taught me using scripture. I still bucked him but we would laugh about it as we went along because we were great friends. That’s what friends do. As it turns out I was basing my belief more on my personal feelings than truth, and feelings fail. That is an example of pride. It wasn’t until shortly after he passed away that it finally (FINALLY!) made sense. And I did a complete turn about with my conviction on this particular topic. It wasn’t my way after all. I finally understood it God’s way.

Just because we want something to be true doesn’t mean that it is. Perception is not truth. We can rationalize all we want in all of our “infinite” human wisdom. But that’s not reality. That’s not God’s reality nor is it how He works.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Have a great weekend. Keep love in your heart, humble yourself, and allow others to see it.♥️

Andi