what is it?...

now GOD promises more about humility than almost anything except maybe giving. here are a few.

GOD saves the humble. GOD supports the humble. GOD promises to guide the humble. GOD gives wisdom to the humble. GOD will rescue the humble. HE promises to exalt the humble. over and over again, GOD says, I will honor you if you’re humble. with humility comes honor.

on the other hand GOD hates pride. there are seven things that GOD hates. the #1 is pride. pride is what got satan kicked out of heaven.

now if GOD has promised all these things about humility, what is it? we know what it’s not. what is it?

because humility is a part of love – love is humble – the bible teaches us that humility is something you do. it is a way of thinking and a way of acting. it has nothing to do with your feelings. you say, “i don’t feel very humble.” that doesn’t matter. in fact, how you feel is quite immaterial. humility is a way of acting. it is something you do. it is a way of thinking. because of that – like love, humility is a choice. you choose to be humble. it’s not something that’s done to you. it’s something that you choose to do yourself.

what is humility? it’s not thinking less of yourself. it’s thinking of others instead of yourself and acting in their best interest instead of your own.

humility means to be other person-centered. it means to think about others and forget yourself. humility is self-forgetfulness. you’re so concerned about other people you’re not even thinking about “what does this mean to me?” so it’s not thinking less of yourself. you just don’t think of yourself at all.

that is a choice, and that’s something you can work on. it’s something you can practice. 1 john 3.18 (niv) says, let us not just talk about love. let us practice real love. please note the word practice. the bible says love is something you can practice, something you can get good at by repeating it over and over and over.

some of you may be thinking, “i don’t need this.” if you feel that, you need it more than anybody else. the amazing thing about pride is we see it instantly in other people and we hate it. but we’re always blind to pride in ourselves. you may be thinking, “i don’t go around exaggerating and talking about myself all the time.” that’s just one of a thousand different expressions of pride or boastfulness. there are many other ways to be prideful than bragging. it is those other forms of pride that are less exposed, more internal, that don’t seem so obvious, that really cause us to stumble.

just a thought from the front porch…