Humility

The recent unraveling of two leaders in the conservative Christian movement reminds me of the susceptibility we all have to subtle sins such as pride. Pride is written all over their stories. Someone could press that it is the very thing that destroyed these men. So they had issues, everyone does. They should have submitted themselves to their brothers in Christ but they chose to keep their problems a secret and act like they had it all together.

What does the Bible say about pride and humility?

Proverbs 8:13

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
    and perverted speech I hate.

Proverbs 15:25

The Lord tears down the house of the proud...

Proverbs 16:5

Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
    be assured, he will not go unpunished.

Isaiah 57:15

¹⁵ For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
    who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
    and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Zephaniah 2:3

...seek righteousness; seek humility;
    perhaps you may be hidden
    on the day of the anger of the Lord.

Matthew 23:12
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

James 4:6

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

It becomes pretty obvious that the Bible has a lot to say about this issue of pride, perhaps more than any other sin. This should help us to realize how serious pride is with God. Many have said that it was the original sin. 

Pride is something we all deal with on some level. We know it is wrong but too often we cannot see how it is working its evil in our lives. The worst thing is that most of us only care when pride shows up. Instead of cultivating humility we are pulling out weeds with no change to the soil of the heart.

It is the hardest thing. My greatest motivation to be humble is my pride. It hurts my pride terribly when it is exposed in front of everyone and so my pride wants to diminish itself. So small that it cannot be seen by myself or others but still alive and present in my every thought and action.

May I suggest that we shouldn't be tied up in shoving down the evidence of pride so much as we should be building humility in ourselves? Isn't our primary reason for battling with pride, pride itself? Maybe not in every case but I know it is true of myself!

How do we cultivate humility?

This section is mostly copied from WIT Alive workbook.

-True humility is vulnerable with others. It isn't hiding its real intentions, afraid it will be exposed. Doesn't care who knows what its done or is doing.

-It takes full responsibility for mistakes. Stops blaming others for its situation. It resists the victim mentality, self-pity.

-Doesn't demand forgiveness. True humility understands that it does not have a right to be forgiven; it is an undeserved gift of mercy.

 

-It looks for ways to be humbled.

-It takes initiative to makes things right between itself and others.

 

When was the last time you were in an argument? Did you know that, according to Proverbs 13:10, pride was the cause?

 

This is all very convicting to me. It is scary how proud my heart really is. I noticed this the other day when someone corrected me for some interactions I had on social media. The person correcting me was saying that what I had done was wrong and instantly I began to think of all reasons why it isn't their business and how I wasn't wrong in what I was doing, thinking "they don't know my heart!"

Later on I was still thinking (stewing) about it. "Don't I deserve some privacy? Sheesh! They're such a busy-body!" And then, it hit me. My inward response was totally based out of pride! I was doing the same rationalizing that Bill Gothard and Doug Phillips used, no doubt, to cover their lack of transparency which led to major moral failure in their lives. 

 

All of the sudden, I was scared. Wow! I was so close to writing this person's opinions off as being ridiculous when in actuality, this was the very input I need in my life to keep me on the right course. I then came to acknowledge that, perhaps, they were right in their judgments against me, and I needed to cool it. :)

Pride will only lead to destruction. We need to admit our weaknesses and our utter reliance on our brothers and sisters in Christ to point out when we are veering so that we can correct our actions and get back on track.

Praise God that he is working in us to end the reign of pride in our lives.