HUMILITY: A MISUNDERSTOOD WORD

                Humble Yourself Before The Lord And He Will Build You Up 
                                                                                  James 4:10

                                                                                 

Humility is a much misunderstood word.  Sometimes it is confused with weakness or  humiliation – being shamed or weakened by another person’s opinion of us.  But in actuality, the exact opposite is true.  True humility involves supreme strength, upmost confidence, a focus on God’s opinion of us rather than on people’s opinion, and a sense of calm because we are in love with life.

 Often times, arrogance gets in the way of our humility.  We want full credit for every success.  Somehow it makes us feel stronger, superior, and more righteous than others.  We feel that if other people give us accolades for what we have accomplished, then somehow we are more validated.  Arrogance forgets one very important truth.  All that we accomplish, all that is good in our life is because of God.  Our abilities, strengths, and accomplishments are never of our own doing. 

When we get into that mindset, arrogance creeps in. Pride is another trait that inhibits our ability to be humble.  We spend our lives caring too much about what other people think.  We live in a society that prides itself on comparison.  Being superior to others is the name of the game.  If we are not better than someone else, then we see ourselves as  failures or somehow lesser than them. If we are more successful than others, we try to make ourselves look even better so we can feel even more superior.  We live in a constant state of stress trying to “out-do” our fellow man.  What a waste of time and energy.  We are all unique and to compare ourselves with anyone else is absurd.

 God never makes junk.  We are all created  in His image and likeness. If God has made each of us different for His purpose,  why would we try to make ourselves like anyone else?  We can never outsmart God. So don’t even try.  As my grandmother use to always tell me. Just be yourself because yourself is perfect.

Humility requires no effort at all. To be humble is to simply recognize that all that we are is a gift from God.  Just as God celebrates when we do good and spread goodness to others, so too must we celebrate when others do good. It is never about  us. It’s always about  others.    

Today:  Spend  the day  giving credit where credit is due – to God.