Lesson #2: Humility

[This past year has been the most difficult year of my life. But I can also say that it has been the most growth-filled and blessing-filled year of my life. Through a variety of circumstances (severe reoccurring illness, lack of finances, etc.), and through the confessions/testimonies/gifts/acts of service/prayers of the people around me, I have come to know what it means to find “strength in weakness”…I have learned the importance of being able to submit…but also to receive…my eyes have been opened to what it truly means to be humble…]

Humility is not a decreased sense of self worth. It is not a false view of your identity or value. It is not a dismissal or rejection of complements. It is not to be confused with modesty. It is not insecurity, low self esteem, or a lack of self confidence. It is not down-playing, hiding, or ignoring your gifts. It is not an outward action that you perform to mask or justify your inner desire to gain the approval of those around you. It is not a comparison to others in which you rank yourself at the bottom. It is not a balance between being feeling good about yourself and feeling bad about yourself.

The thing about humility is that IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU…at all.

Humility is the REALIZATION THAT: Life is about someone GREATER than you, that everything you have been given is a GIFT, that THE ONLY REASON YOU EXIST IS BECAUSE OF MERCY YOU WILL NEVER DESERVE, GRACE YOU WILL NEVER EARN, AND LOVE YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO RECIPROCATE, NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY.

When you come to FULLY comprehend this truth, you cannot help but live a life of complete service and sacrifice; a life in which you always think of others before yourself…a life in which at any moment you would be willing to give it up, to lay it all down, for the sake of another…a life in which you allow others to serve you (no one is above receiving service, for even this is a form of pride)...a life in which everything you do points not to yourself but to the GOD who created you, gifted you, enabled, and empowered you…So that when others see your strength and beauty, they do not see you, but THROUGH you to the One who apart from, such beauty and strength WOULD CEASE TO BE.

To live in any other way, is to live a life of pride.

Pride says, “God’s view of me is not enough. I need the rest of the world to notice me, accept me, appreciate me, value me. Pride says, “I prefer justice to mercy.” Pride says, “I am above grace.” Pride says, “I do not need love.”

A prideful heart is DEAD, because it is NOT CAPABLE OF RECEIVING the undeserved LIFE that God and ONLY GOD, MERCIFULLY, GRACIOUSLY, LOVINGLY offers.