Humble yourself in the presence of the Lord
and he will exalt you. (James 4:6 NASB).
Humility
may be one of the most sought-after virtues in the Bible, but possibly the
least achieved. We know it when we see
it, but it is difficult to define. It is
one of the Christian graces that if you try to pursue it, you may distance yourself
from it. You cannot choreograph humility
into the script of your life. God has to
facilitate the process. If you are
trying to get it through self-effort, the accomplishment negates the desired
result.
Long ago,
the famous preacher, Harry Ironside, from Moody Bible Church, worried that he
was not as humble as he ought to be. He
asked a friend what he should do. The
friend counseled him to make a sandwich board with the plan of salvation in
Scripture written on it and walk around the busy shopping district of downtown
Chicago for an entire day. Ironside thought this would be a humbling
experience, so he walked around the Windy City, spouting Scriptures along the way. When he finally returned to his apartment, he
thought about how humbling his excursion had been and was feeling pretty good
about the experience. As he was removing
his sign, he caught himself thinking, “There is not another person in Chicago
that would be willing to do a thing like that.”
Humility is a contradiction in terms.
When you feel like you are closest to achieving it, you are farthest
from possessing it. When you realize how
far you have to go in acquiring it, you are actually closer to having it.
Meekness is a virtue that if gotten through your self-effort, can make you
proud of your humility. It is a grace that we must continually pursue, but
recognize that we can never entirely grasp.
Billy
Graham, arguably the greatest preacher of the modern era, might teach us
something about humility. On one
occasion, someone stole his Bible. He told someone, “I can’t see why someone
would want it, it had my name printed right on it.” He was clueless about the
fact that a Bible with his name on it, was the very reason someone would want
to steal it. Pride always gives us an
elevated sense of self-importance.
Humility keeps our life in perspective.
Over the years, people have studied the preaching of Billy Graham, his
style, content, and structure. Many have
tried to emulate these, with not near the success as he has had. Could it be that the secret of his success is
not the mechanics of his preaching but a less apparent reason, humility, that
God always honors in a person’s life?
In God’s
Kingdom, the way up is always down. In the world, you can usurp authority, but
in ministry, conceit impedes your progress.
Pride is just an incorrect view of who you are in relation to who God
is. Accurately compare yourself with God
and the only reasonable response will be humility. Humble yourself before God, and He will lift
you up.
Image used with permission by Microsoft.
Ken
Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM Publishing
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
