James 6:4-11a “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’Submit yourselves therefore to God.Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.”
I’ve wanted to take a deeper look into the subject of humility for awhile now, I guess because sometimes I catch myself struggling with what I think is pride. But as I got to thinking about it, I realized I’d never really dived into what pride is, or perhaps more importantly, just what it means to be humble.
When my husband and I were going through our miscarriages, I remember being so humbled at the end of it. In the beginning and middle of that journey, the nasty pride in my heart kept coming to the surface. The entitlement I felt towards my children, how deserving I thought I was of having all my desires met, how I compared myself to other mothers and thought, “I’d have done better,” all went to show just how great I thought I was. Yet, with His enduring patience, God worked in my heart, and not only did I see glimpses of how holy God is, I began to see how unholy I am.
Those clearer pictures served to humble my pride. I became more thankful for my salvation and all the blessings I have that I don’t deserve; and when Seth was born I marveled at why God would give such an incredible blessing to someone so underserving. God had done a work in my heart.
I’ve done my best to remember the lessons I learned during that time. And oh how I do remember. The pain, the hope, the eye-opening and heart wrenching realizations, the glimpses of God. I remember. But more than just knowledge, we have to choose to continue to put those lessons we’ve learned into action, because righteous living isn’t just something we come by. Scripture commands we pursue it.
1 Timothy 6:11-12 “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
So today, I’d like to encourage you to pursue humility. To help us both, I’ve put together some practical, Biblical insight that will be laid out in these next couple of blogs.
In the opening verses of James, we’re told God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. He then gives a few practical steps we can take to head in the right direction. The verses can almost be read backwards as a step-by-step process to be saved and then continue to reach for humility. Humble yourself (admit you are a sinner and cannot save yourself). Mourn over your sin. Purify your hearts (by coming to Christ’s cleansing flood). Draw near to God. Resist the devil. Submit to God. Seek humility. Remember God gives grace.
Salvation starts with humility. We compare ourselves to the righteous standard of God’s law and see our deep need for a Savior. We realize we can’t pay the penalty for sin, and so we humbly come to the foot of the cross. It makes sense then, that we should continue in humility, since we stand in Christ’s righteousness, enabled only by the Holy Spirit to pursue the things of God.
Christ Himself was the perfect example of humility. In Matthew 11:28-30 (talking about coming to Him for salvation) Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” What did Jesus do? He served others and always, always, always sought to point to God the Father, giving Him all the glory.
Pride is basically defined as seeking to glorify oneself, and thinking higher of oneself than one ought to think. The Biblical clearly is against this. In talking about the different parts of the church body, Paul says this, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (Romans 12:3) He then goes on to give a number of practical ways we can give glory to God, and think of others before ourselves.
“Let love be genuine.
Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
Love one another with brotherly affection.
Outdo one another in showing honor.
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Live in harmony with one another.
Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.
Never be wise in your own sight.
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’
To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
These steps aren’t necessarily easy to implement, but they are laid out in a very clear way. We’re called to love others, serve our enemies, and not think too much of ourselves. We’re told again to be humble, which basically means we look to live a life dedicated to God, while continuing to have a heart that says as John Newton did, “I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.”
We’re also told being humble involves obedience. Philippians 2:3-11 “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 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. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Those verses in Philippians are a perfect example of how Christ was lowly – serving others and being obedient, all for the glory of the Father – and they are also a good example of how God exalted Christ in His lowliness.
So we too must pursue humility, if we are to pursue the likeness of Christ.
©️Grace Baeten 2021
The Misplaced Mom 
Leave a comment