Practicing Humility

I'm sure we all have our moments where we're just too proud to do something. Maybe it's to ask for help when you really need it, or being too proud to say you're sorry to someone who you believe didn't deserve it and instead holding a grudge where it wasn't needed, or perhaps just too proud to admit that you were wrong about something.

For me, it's all of those options. Recently I made the bold decision to repair a broken friendship between a girl and I who had once been friends and who I hope to be friends with again. To cut a long story short, we let a guy come between us and I blamed her for the whole awful situation. But it turns out, it wasn't even her fault, and I have apologized now for holding that against her for so long.

You might read that, and be like, "Okay, so what's the big deal?" But what you may not understand is that this was a hard thing for me to do, especially with how hard-headed and stubborn I can be. I was so proud for so long, that I had built up a wall against someone and refused to break it down and simply admit that I was wrong about her. In the process, I built up a wall against God out of my own stubbornness and selfishness. In the end I took a step down from my high horse, and took a step back from the situation, finally able to see it for what it was. In short, I finally did what God had been telling me to do for so long. I humbled myself. From this situation I've come to realize that our Heavenly Father doesn't want us to be proud women; He calls us to be humble women. Ephesians 4 illustrates it quite nicely:

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."

Ephesians 4:2-3 (NIV)

In this passage, Paul tells us that we should be "completely humble", or in the English Standard Version "with all humility and gentleness". Not half humble, but all the humility that you can muster, accompanied of course by a gentle nature, as these two seem to go hand in hand. When you Google humility, it defines it as "a modest or low view of one's own importance". Essentially saying, the world doesn't revolve around me. As human beings, we normally like to think that the world does in fact revolve around us, but it doesn't. And like I've been saying from the beginning, when we become true followers of Jesus Christ, He tells us to go against our human nature and the nature of the world, and follow His perfect example instead.

Jesus set up His example for us by doing things like washing His disciples' feet, eating with sinners, and by living life as a man among us even though He is literally God. But He also did something remarkable, something that deserves an honorable mention:

"Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Philippians 2:6-8

Jesus is the ultimate example of humility. He humbled Himself to the point of offering Himself up as a living sacrifice, all for us. Would you do this for someone if it came down to it? Pride can come in many forms, and the worst one yet is being too proud to admit that you're not living your life in the way that God desires you to, and to be too puffed up in your walk to accept guidance from God. Our Father is the only one who can truly teach us what it means to be humble. I mean, would you just look at what He did for us on that fateful day at Golgotha, by dying on a cross to heal us from the sins that had broken us far beyond compare. If you need a more powerful image to illustrate this for you, go and watch the crucifixion scene from The Passion of the Christ. I guarantee it will change your point of view. Look to Jesus and His sacrifice for all of us wretched and undeserving sinners, and then try going before the almighty Father to tell Him that you cannot be humble, when He Himself was humbled for your sake.

God calls us to walk this Earth, living as a light to others, just as Jesus did. But how can we truly let our light shine when it is blotted out by the darkness of pride? Humble yourselves dear sisters, and walk this Earth as the light you are meant to be, loving those you meet and selflessly placing their needs above your own. The world does not revolve around any of us, but our lives should revolve around Jesus Christ and reflect His character as our own.

Love, Em