Being Humbled by the Lord:

I would like to believe I am a fairly humble person.  However, there are definitely times I take a lot of pride in certain things I do or certain characteristics that make me who I am.  For example, I would like to believe I am a responsible and hardworking person.  I hold myself very high at work.  I like to think I get mostly everything done on time.  I am the place where I need to be.  I hardly ever forget anything.  I take a lot of pride in doing a good job.  It is good to care about our work, but there are definitely times when I let this pride become too much.  I may become too prideful and maybe even boastful.

However, I make some mistakes.  I realize at first I want to blame someone else.  I want to blame other people for not being very good about informing me or not helping me out, when in reality, it is my fault.  I am the one who made the mistake or who was not responsible.  It is good for me to make mistakes and be aware of my humanity.  Recently I made a fairly big and irresponsible mistake. (I am not going to fully disclose it here for different reasons)  Luckily I realized the mistake before anything terrible happened.  However, this was very hard for me to accept at first.  I felt absolutely terrible.  I was also grateful to the Lord for helping me realize this mistake before even worse things could have taken place. 

I have felt this way other times recently in the past, when it comes to forgetting a meeting at work, or when I am running late for a volunteering event, or when I don’t get all the hours done at work I am supposed to in a week.  These are all very common mistakes or issues many other people make.  However, I just really struggle with these moments. I struggle because I want to feel responsible, independent, and really close to perfect at my job or my leadership opportunities.  I need to be reminded that I am not perfect.  I am not going to be perfect.  There are going to be times when I mess up, when I sleep in, when I forget. However, I need to be more willing to be more humble and to ask for help and to rely on the Lord more.  

The Bible talks about humility often.  It is mentioned about 80 to 100 times throughout the Bible.  One of those verses is James 4:10 which says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”  I do really enjoy this verse because it reminds me to be humble and to not put oneself as high or important because the Lord will lift up the humble person.  The Lord will see the humility and the meekness in individuals.  He will help them develop their relationship with Him for eternity. 

I think the reason I am the most upset about being prideful is the judgemental way I can act or behave.  I will often judge other people for the way they act or the way they forget something or miss something, especially when it is important.  This is the part I am the most upset about being prideful.  I don’t want to let those comparison thoughts start to invade my brain.  I don’t want to think less of other people when they make a mistake, when I need to be more aware of the times I will forget something or when I will make a mistake.  This is not something I should put over other people.  Otherwise, I will start to believe I need God less and less.  

Because of my very recent mistake, I was then recently able to help a fellow friend when they were having a mistake issue.  When they lost something important, I was more sympathetic and humble to help them, then the judgemental thoughts I would have had previously.  My recent mistake reminded me that we all do make mistakes and we do need help or assistance from time to time. 

The challenge for the week is to be reflective over your personal pride.  Are there times you are incredibly prideful and make decisions based on your pride?  Are there times you are feeling more capable of something than maybe you should?  Are there times when maybe you are comparing yourself to others and are thinking of yourself as better than them because of your certain capabilities? 

I know the main way we can overcome these feelings of pride and comparison is through praying to the Lord and to ask for the Holy Spirit to help us become more humble and to be more centered and dependent on the Lord. I pray the humility of the Holy Spirit will come over your heart and your mind.  I pray I will develop more and more humility as well.