Wednesday, September 5, 2007

it's hard to be humble

hu·mil·i·ty /the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc.
—Synonyms lowliness, meekness, submissiveness.
—Antonyms pride.

humility is not the denial of our attributes. it is believing in our hearts that our best qualities are not good enough to cause us to deserve god’s attention. humility is seeing ourselves not in comparison to one another but in the light of god’s greatness.

humility is almost always acquired in the desert. moses, david, john the baptist, jesus spent time in the desert. god kept the israelites in the desert and withheld from them in order to reveal what was in their hearts. god uses our trials to teach us humility.

i read once that part of humility is a willingness to be known for who we really are. I find that to be the hardest. it's hard to be vunerable, to show my weaknesses and to say i'm sorry. i fear that other's will somehow think less of me or take advantage of my weakened position.

.......please share with me your desert experiences that have helped you to grow in humility.

2 comments:

Livingsword said...

Interesting article…humility is such a central part of the Jesus following experience yet it often doesn’t get the “air time” it deserves.

The humility of Christ in Philippians chapter 2 is such a grand example to us of humility; it is a place I often like to “camp”.

I have a constant experience of being at an oasis of grace and at the same time being in the “desert” by the constant reality checks of my wonderful wife.

I will give you a thought here: character is more important than reputation because reputation is just what others think of you but character is about who you really are. I believe that growth in humility is strongest when you are “innocent” but others think poorly of you or hate you.

Now think of Christ’s humility at the hands of people when He was crucified.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to know.