As I have asked before, (and will again for a few more times) do you have peace and contentment in your life? Are you living a John 10:10 kind of life? Do you believe Ephesians 3:20 can be a reality for you? Are you experiencing the transforming growth described in 2 Corinthians 3:18? For the past several blogs, I have shared that living this type of life can be found in this verse:

So get rid of all uncleanness and all that remains of wickedness, and with a humble spirit receive the word [of God] which is implanted [actually rooted in your heart], which is able to save your souls. (James 1:21 Amplified)

We have already unpacked the following concepts, uncleanness and wickedness. Today we will look at the concept of humility. This opposite of humility is of course pride and pride is often reflected in two different extremes: boastful or arrogant and false humility. Most of us understand arrogance and can quickly spot it in others (and hopefully ourselves.) However, the concept of false humility is often not so easy to see.

False humility is seen when people belittle or degrade themselves. For example, I have been given the gift of preaching. Because of God’s grace and power in my life, I can communicate effectively and efficiently. When I first started speaking, people would came up to me afterwards and complimented me. I would often shrug it off by saying “Oh that wasn’t that good” or “Anyone can do this.” After a few times of doing that the Lord quickly rebuked me and said that I was belittling His gift in me by not receiving these compliments for His glory. It was false humility because I was not a right measure of myself or God. Now when someone compliments me I using say something like, “Thank you! It was good. God has blessed me with a great gift. All glory to Him.”

So how do you develop humility. The first step is having a right understanding of God – He is the sovereign, all knowing, all present, all powerful King of kings. There is none like Him nor will there ever be. The second step is having a right understanding of yourself – I am a sinner that is in desperate need of a Savior but because I do have His Spirit in me, I am a righteous child of this amazing King. Lastly, you need to find a way to practice this humility. For me, it is picking up trash. As I walk through my church or jog along the road or head into a store, if there is trash on the ground I am to pick it up and put it into a trashcan. Yes, this is disgusting at times (wash hands as soon as possible) and delays me sometimes (hate stopping in the middle of a run) but it does humble me. And it really humbles me when I have passed a piece of trash and the Lord has me turn around and pick it up.

What about you? Do you have any ways in which you practice humility?

Next time we will look at the concept, receive.