Dear Friends:

One of the great paradoxes in the Bible is humbling
yourself to be made great.  "...be clothed with
humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth
grace to the humble.  Humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in
due time:" (1 Peter 5:5,6)

Even Jesus had to experience this paradox firsthand.
"...being found in appearance as a man, He humbled
Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.  Therefore also God highly
exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is
above every name."   (Phil 2: 8,9)

Perhaps an even more intriguing paradox is how
throughout the ages, men have come to believe that
there was a God in heaven, and instead of being filled
to the brim with a feeling of great humility, instead
they became arrogant and prideful in this knowledge.
There are few things that are as distasteful and
off-putting as an arrogant believer.  In fact, it begs
the question whether one can really put those two
concepts together at all -- "arrogant" and "believer"
-- when one of the most fundamental and important
attributes to any believer is humility.

We might define humility as knowing who and what we
truly are in the presence of God.  If we deceive
ourselves about who and what we are, we can have a
false sense of pride.  One of my favorite passages in
the Bible is 1 Corinthians 4:7 simply for the
straightforward logic and the profound implication.
"For who regards you as superior? And what do you have
that you did not receive? But if you did receive it,
why do you boast as if you had not received it?"  Can
we be proud of something we don't deserve in the first
place?  Can we deserve "undeserved kindness" (i.e.
Grace)?  In short, pride is self delusion!

The prideful individual nullifies Divine grace because
he or she does not see the need for it.  By whatever
measure they have falsely valued themselves, be it
works or knowledge or wealth or whatever, they have
greatly overestimated themselves in the face of their
Creator.  The Pharisee, despite all of his knowledge
of the Scriptures, did not understand who and what he
was, but prayed instead saying "God, I thank thee,
that I am not as other men are..." The Pharisee did
not see himself as a sinner which was absurd.  It is
only when we see our utter worthlessness that we
attain value in the eyes of God.  As James puts it,
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he
shall lift you up." (James 4:10)

In speaking of humility, it might be helpful to say
what humility is not.  It is not a false valuation of
your talents or abilities.  You need not say you are
dumb when you are smart or ugly when you are handsome.
  It is understanding those gifts are from God and
therefore cannot be a source of arrogance.  Meekness
does not mean deferring to everyone on everything.
Different people are suited to different tasks.  Some
do things better than others.  Humility allows for an
accurate self-assessment and the adeptness to carry
out those duties without self-aggrandizement to the
benefit of God and others.  Humility is also not
rejecting all praise.  We must accept praise and
criticism equally well.  If we are humble, we will not
love "the praise of men more than the praise of God."
(John 12:43)  We cannot accept the praise of men and
also attain the praise of God unless we do so humbly
and with a sincere recognition of the source of our
abilities.

We can rest assured that if the Lord Jesus Christ
needed to learn humility in his mortal existence, we
cannot escape this same lesson and be well pleasing to
our Heavenly Father.  If we seek glory, we must first
seek humility.  "Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child, the same is greatest in
the kingdom of heaven."

Have a great week!

Kyle