This is a topic that brings so many thoughts to mind. They could be positive, negative or both. I have always thought of humility as it relates to others, but not enough as it relates to me. Recently, God has been convicting me that I was guilty of thinking if I was kind to others, that was the same as being humble. Bottom line, I didn’t get it. So I did what is guaranteed to bring reality to the surface, I asked God to teach me about it.
Commence discomfort. Do I just want to be better at outward displays of humility? You know, just be good at making others think I am truly humble or do I want it to be real humility. I could study humble acts, or a humble posture because if I am communicating humility to others, isn’t that enough? It’s all about “displaying” Christ, right? The discussion I had with myself was that I just needed to have a more humble posture, because all that mattered was what others thought, right? Wrong.
“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) NLT
Oh how this verse has hung on to my spirit for the last year. The truth of scripture does that. As Hebrews 4:12 says, it is “sharper than any 2 edged sword, cutting, piercing, it goes straight to the heart of the matter.”
So again, do I truly desire humility? I could do all the outward activity of humility I could study humble acts and postures, but then is that real? This is the deal, we can practice humility outwardly, we can do all the “right” things, but if it is not a true condition of our heart, it will ring false. We can be a great actress, and some of us are better at it than others, however, that will not last for us. Why? well first of all, others can discern the falseness of our efforts. We are silly to think that the Holy Spirit doesn’t reveal it to others.
Secondly, it won’t endure. It takes a lot of thought and effort on our part and we aren’t that good. The truth always comes out, and when we are put under intense pressure or shaken and something doesn’t go our way, the reality of who we are squeezes out. Also, the enemy can take advantage of our falseness. We may get credit for our humility, but that is the feeding ground for pride. We love it because we are told how sweet and humble we are, and as we get noticed, the enemy can deceive us into believing WE deserve recognition and notice, and you got it, we are prideful of our humility. Ironic, huh?
As God allows us to learn over and over again, we may have others fooled, but never Him. He is not impressed the way others are impressed. That is because He is concerned with our heart. So before we can display true humility, it is something we must first see God do in us. It is an inside out process that we will not get glory for, but He will get glory from.
kristiharrington
