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TwitterWhen I was in college I prayed one of the scariest prayers possible: ‘God, give me humility.’ And when he did, it hurt. Because an element of being humbled is being broken. And like bones, a broken spirit just hurts.
Now we’ve learned about our betrayal cycle, about how we deceive ourselves and end up manipulating everything around us, even God. And this week we’re learning that the answer to this problem is that little ‘h’ word: humility. In your relationships, in your marriages, in your workplace, in your personal life, it’s the presence of a humble heart that truly allows you to grow.
But if this is true then why don’t we go after this? Why do we fight against being humble? Because, again, it hurts. And for me it raises this deep fear of ‘being found out’…of being humiliated. So when a mentor of mine told me (in his southern farmer drawl), ‘You cannot humiliate a truly humble heart’, I was terrified.
I knew that wasn’t me. I knew that this fear of being humiliated meant my heart’s missing humility. And it meant that I’d have to pray one of the scariest prayers again: ‘God, give me humility.’
God is always looking to educate your faith. And because He is fundamentally kind He will even give you pain if it means you grow in your faith. The grace that gives us salvation cost Jesus, but the grace of sanctification (growing up) will cost us. It will hurt. It’s painful. It’s taking away the dead in you so that the living can further grow. It’s pruning (John 15:1-8). It’s sanctification. It’s growth. And at the end of it, it’s greater than anything you could have been without it. The best in you is on the other side of being humbled.
So do you want to get out of ‘the box’? Do you want to grow in your faith? Do you want to experience God’s love instead of simply trying to convince yourself that He loves you? Then take a deep breath and pray that scary prayer…pray for humility.
-M@
Matt,
This is so very true it hurts even to think you need humility, and then once you pray for it, and God begins the pruning process, THEN this second magic word comes into play Perseverance (james 1:4 – Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything (including humilty)) It so easy to want to quit in the midst of pain, similarly to a person just getting accustomed to exercise, but if we pull our big boy pants up, and stand in the fire we find that Jesus is right there with us (see any notable scripture on refining, most notably the story in Daniel about Meshach, Shadrach, and Benny, or Hebrews 12:11-12)
To both Shean and M@,
Thank you for sharing your words. God has been working in this area in my life as well. I count it all joy to be where He is pruning for I know that He works everything together to those who are called and even more importantly, He will NOT stop HIS work until HE has perfected me. And then at that moment, I am going home and what could be better!! As Paul wrote, to live is Christ but to die is gain. May HE never stop working in any of us and if we feel like HE is, then we need to look within to figure out why.