Friday, January 28, 2011

Humility Before God

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.-- James 4:10

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you.-- 1 Peter 5:6

These 2 verses come to mind when I think about being humble before the Lord. Living a life of humility is very though, but nonetheless humility is a vital trait that we as Christians must practice. We more so tend to be prideful in life, and think of ourselves more highly than we ought, which comes from our sinful nature. So for pretty much during our whole time in this life we'll be battling our pride, everyday, from sunrise to sunset.

Humility before God is so much more important than humility before other. Once we are born again we submit ourselves to the Lord, letting Him have our bodies, mind, and lives to use for His glory (for He is worthy of our humble submission to Him). The thing is though, we are not perfect and spot on for doing that daily. We tend to be prideful, and take the wheel of our lives to steer through life often times. In saying this I mean we want to be independent and take control of situations and circumstances that come up, so we can hopefully obtain the outcome we want. It like telling God, "Hey, let me handle this!" or "Step aside, I'll take care of it."
Here's what Jesus says to His disciples when they ask who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven in Matthew 18: "Whoever humbles himself like this child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." What Jesus means by saying this that children are definitely in a sense are dependent. Children rely on their parents for food, shelter, clothing, protection, a good education, and other essentials in life. In the same way, we as God's children are called to to be dependent on our Father for everything we need in the Christian life.
One way I humble myself before the Lord is meditating on the gospel. I remind myself of who I am a dirty, wretched, finite, sinner....saved by grace before an infinitely holy, righteous, just, powerful, all-knowing sovereign God. Then in light of that I remind myself of how I don't deserve anything except death, the Father's wrath, namely eternal damnation. God would be entirely just to rid this earth of me and cast me into hell at this very moment. Although God being rich in love and mercy toward me poured out His grace on me, and saved me from my sin and eternal punishment (which Christ took in my place on the cross). He did so that I may be forgiven, and reconciled to the Father, and......given a new heart with new desires. Which means that I will desire to live a life of humility, long for Christ increase, and myself decrease (John 3:30). Also that I may live to glorify, praise, exalt, and magnify above all things, especially myself.
Meditating and praying about this does help my to humble myself before the Lord. For He is oh so worthy of my sacrifice of my all to Him everyday!

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