Is Humility Obsolete in the Day and Age?

The Sword of the Lord clearly tells me to, “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.   Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:5c-7). 

Hey Gang:  Jonathan Edwards wrote:  Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil’s reach as humility.  He went on and said, “When we have the courage to see ourselves as we really are, we cannot help but realize how very weak and needy we are and how much we need God in our lives.”

It is once again time for the politicians to fill the airways with all the wonderful things they have done and, if reelected, will do in the future.  I sense, if one were to bar the words “I” and “me” from their rhetoric, most would be dumb founded as to what to say. I do believe that, if a brave hearted soul were to open a store in the Belt Way selling humility, they would soon find themselves in bankruptcy court.

In his book Humility, the Beauty of Holiness Andrew Murray defines humility as a ‘place of entire dependence on God.  Pride is the loss of humility and is the root of every sin and evil’. It is a place of quietness of heart.   In other words when we allow pride to take over the control mechanism in our hearts we have chosen to “go our own way”.  

Murray went on to say that, if a person wants to be like Christ, then humility will be their primary characteristic.  Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.   For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”  (Mathew 11:29-30).

In Matthew 5:5 Jesus gives us the opposite of pride: “Blessed are the gentle (meek), for they shall inherit the earth”.  I always thought piety would be the highest standard when measuring a Christ like person but Jesus calls on His children to take on humility as we place our total dependence on Him.

Now, hear this, after researching the word humility, I find there is a needed ingredient to implementing humility, that being thankfulness.  I have learned that folks who tend to be pride- bitten demand certain things where humble people accept with gratitude what the Father allows.  Notice Luke’s words: “For everyone (no acceptions) who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (14:11).

So, my friends and neighbors, as you traverse through this day, open your mouth and sing this little ditty, “If you want to be great in God’s kingdom learn be a servant of God” and make sure you fill your platter this day with “humble pie” and exalted by the Lord.

Blessings,

Gramps