This Is Humility!
"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility
toward one another, because, “God opposes
the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
1 Peter 5:5, NIV
What's humility? It's the opposite of pride? If pride expands
one’s importance, does humility deflate one’s importance?
That’s the view given by English dictionaries, a
deemphasis
on one’s importance. But what's the biblical view of
humility?
If someone compliments you on a job well done, do you refuse
to take credit or receive their compliment? Or do you graciously
say, “Thank you,” in a spirit of genuine appreciation and humility?
In Romans 12:3 Paul exhorts believers not to think of themselves
pridefully but rather to think of themselves “soberly”—realistically
or accurately. Paul’s topic is grace given by God to each Christian
to serve in the Body of Christ. We should neither overestimate the
gift of God’s grace or underestimate it. Rather, we should think of
it soberly and realistically—humbly—and minister accordingly. To
think less of God’s gift would be to devalue it; to think realistically
about it allows one to serve humbly.
How do you view yourself? With pride?
With false humility? Or soberly and realistically
according to the grace of God in your life?
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"A really humble man…
will not be thinking about humility,
he will not be thinking about himself at all."
C. S. Lewis
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