Humility

1 Peter 5:5

"...Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble."

Proverbs 22:4

"By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life."

     The Bible clearly teaches us that, as Christians, we are to be humble. 1 Peter 5:5 above says that. The Bible also says that pride is sinful.

Proverbs 21:4 -- "An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin."

Proverbs 6:16-17 -- "These six things doth the LORD hate:...a proud look..."

 

     Proverbs 27:2 says to "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips." If we do this, we can receive great blessing!

Pride seeks honor, yet it is humility that receives it!

Luke 18:14

"For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

     Do we not all admire the very noble people who are so very humble? Yet we are disgusted by the arrogance of some; they, seeking honor, have gained only contempt. Others, seeking rather after humility, have received honor. Humility must come before honor in the Kingdom of God: "The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility." (Proverbs 15:33).

Luke 14:8-10 -- "When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee."

Luke 18:9-14 -- "And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

 

Humility is Better--Nature Proves It!

Stalks of grain that bend gracefully are much better than the stalks that stand straight and tall. The gracefully bent, or "humble", stalks bear much more fruit than tall, straight, unbent stalks. 

 

Here is an example of the negative effects of pride. You probably aren't familiar (at least not very much) with this story.

2 Chronicles 26:1-21

     "Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

     "And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.

     "And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines. And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gurbaal, and the Mehunims. And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly.

     "Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them. Also he built towers in the desert, and digged many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains: husbandmen also, and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry.

     "Moreover Uzziah had an host of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's captains. The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valour were two thousand and six hundred. And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones. And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.

     "But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God.

     "Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land."

 

     In conclusion, I will comment that You Have No Reason To Be Proud--Not Really.

John 3:27

"...A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven."

     So anything that you have that you may be tempted to be proud of is really not anything for you to be proud of. Instead, it is something for you to be thankful for, a gift from Heaven. And anytime you begin to feel like you are better than someone else, you should be able to quickly nip it in the bud by trying this: Whenever you begin to feel better than anyone else, stop quickly and do something in service for them. This humbles you to the position of servant towards them.