Day 35: The Daily Decision of Humility

This might sound like a dumb question, but doesn't it only make sense that humility is achieved by NOT thinking about ourselves? It's not really about us at all: it's about shifting our focus to God and to others. Only in our human minds can we find a way to be proud about how humble we are. If that feeling of pride is what humility is about, then we have already earned our reward in full. The passage from Philippians gives us a direct command: we are to have the same attitude as Christ. Humility, like love, is a choice, and Jesus shows us exactly how to achieve that. We have to avoid selfish ambition and vain conceit, because both of those shift the focus onto ourselves (what am I getting out of it?) rather than what we are doing for the other person. I'm sure we have all had that person in our lives that we can't help but think, "Oh man, what do they want from me this time?" What's even scarier is that we see that and two minutes later, we are turning around and acting that way towards someone that we claim to care about. And we try really hard to mask it by saying that "They don't mind," "They owe me for ____ anyway so it's fine," "I'm not asking for something that I wouldn't do for them. . . probably," "They WANT to help me, or they wouldn't be my friend." I'm not saying that we should never ask for help or support when we need it, but we need to be sure we are not becoming dependent leeches that suck all the life and love out of what once was a close and growing relationship. The cure? Stop putting yourself first. It's not that our needs are unimportant, but when we start to reach out and fulfill other's needs, God takes care of the rest. What could be more comforting than that?

We also need to realize how prideful we are, and then start choosing to act humble. God tells us to be humble (in the same way that He tells us to love), so it's not about a certain feeling that we're to wait for to control our actions. We have to put others first as a principle and as a daily choice. If we could just get ourselves so focused on others that there isn't room for us to get distracted by our own selfish desires, what an amazing world we would live in. To have complete concern pointed somewhere other than into our own hearts. . . sometimes I think that's really the perfect picture of Heaven. Everyone will be serving in roles that they are best suited for, and no one person will be singled out as having a more important or less important job, because everyone is contributing. The book doesn't really get into this, but I think we also need to be open minded and remember to allow people to serve us! I know that doesn't sound like a hard concept, because who doesn't like to be served, but I don't think we really realize how many opportunities that we end up stepping on someone's toes who was trying to do something for us. We have to get rid of the pride that says, "But that's my job!" or "That's not the way I like to have it done!" or "You've done that 1,000 times!" and appreciate the person and what they are doing.

There are four questions we can ask ourselves (from the last four days. . . yeah, those entries aren't up yet) so I will leave you with those:

-What ambition can I give to God this week?
-Whose need must I begin to notice this week?
-Where do I need to honor God, even if I am in the lowest seat? Or trust him, even if I am in the highest seat?
-Have I started to make faith a do-it-yourself burden? How can I choose to express fresh trust in God?

Point to Ponder: Don't try to feel humble; act humble.
We're always so wrapped up in only doing things we feel like or that make us feel good. I know that I have to be careful with music, because that's a really easy thing for me to go, "Yeah, you're right! I did just play amazingly" and completely ignore the fact that that gift originates from God, not from me. I think that when we come to God in a constant state of thankfulness for everything He has done for us and given us, we can really start to become humble as well as start to give those things back to Him and to others.

Verse to Remember: Philippians 4:13- "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
I definitely needed this verse this weekend, and I will continue to need it throughout the school year (and life really, but small steps). Again, by shifting the focus of our lives through the eyes of God, we can start to see how weak and helpless we are without His presence in our lives. Really we don't even need His perspective: we just need to go out and try things in our own strength and see how botched things get, and that's always an effective reminder that we can only really accomplish worthwhile things through Him.

Question to Consider: Is there an ugly point of pride that I have been ignoring in my life?
It's really easy for me to point to the things I do (whether at my job, at my church, or just in my life) and say, "I'm really good at that. I've spent a lot of time working on these skills, I have all these experiences, and I have a love and passion for these things." It's a lot harder to recognize and then express that truly it is all from God. Everything, from the productions I've been involved with to the teaching experiences I've had to performing ensembles I've played with: all of them were and are and will be set up by Him for some reason or another that will ultimately lead to furthering His kingdom. On the one side, that's somewhat of an easy concept to understand rationally, but practically? That blows my mind. So it's easier to just claim, "I am great," than to say, "I serve a great God." And most people are fine with just hearing, "Thank you, I worked really hard." My response should always be, "To God be the glory!"