Proverbs 29:23
A man's pride shall
bring him low: but honour shall uphold the
humble in spirit.
Our immediate thought, when we consider what it
means to be a humble person, tends to be the opposite of what the passage above
is telling us. We may picture ourselves having a very low status. We may think
of ourselves as being very weak. We may wonder why we would pursue a life of
making ourselves less important, than those around us. We have created a way of
thinking in our society that says that being the most known, loved, and adored
by the world is what will give us meaning in life. We tend to think that popularity
is the most valuable factor to a person’s identity.
When we read the passage above, we realize that
our human thinking is completely backwards of the way God sees things. When a person
is willing to give up that desire to be “number one”, God sees that person as
someone who is worthy of honor. As Christians we are to base the truth of
everything on the Word of God. So the way that we are used to basing our
identity, is actually the opposite of the truth! We are believing a lie, if we
see humility as a weakness.
We need to start changing our perspective of what
it really means to be a “humble in spirit” kind of person. We have a hard time
recognizing that humbling ourselves to be used by God is not weakness, but an
indescribable strength. Thinking less of our own gain and pleasure is not
depriving ourselves, but leaves room for us to find ways to think of others
needs. Not building our identity on how the world thinks of us, allows us to be
an available witness for the Lord to shine His glory through.
Our need to change our perspective from what we
have been subconsciously taught can be tough. We have to train ourselves to see that having humility as what God sees as honorable, and recognize that pride is what
will ultimately be our downfall.
James 4:10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
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