“Humility is a relational accelerator into a deeper love and intimacy with essential relationships.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today –May 5, 2023
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Colossians 2:23
False humility is a subtle form of pride…a double sin of arrogance cloaked in deceit. False humility gives an appearance of selflessness, but at the heart is a self-benefiting agenda. With an artificially imposed low self-esteem, false humility is an unhealthy self-deprecation that disregards being a beloved child of God. Henri Nouwen explains this denial of divine love, “For a very long time, I considered low self-esteem to be some kind of virtue. I had been warned so often against pride and conceit that I came to consider it a good thing to deprecate myself. But now I realize that the real sin is to deny God’s first love for me, to ignore my original goodness. Because without claiming that first love and that original goodness for myself, I lose touch with my true self and embark on the destructive search among the wrong people and in the wrong places for what can only be found in the house of my Father.” Humility is a juicy fruit of love!
The truly humble are very conscious of their propensity for pride, while those who only pose as humble are pretentious, staying tethered to pride’s subtle seduction. What really confuses matters is when religion is mixed together with the toxic brew of pretense, pride, and false humility. The odor from this self-serving concoction is offensive and nauseous to mature believers and, more importantly, to the Lord. False humility gives an appearance of appealing to God in worship and spiritual disciplines, but as Paul suggests, has no restraint with sensual indulgences. True humility, however, is ever vigilant to the influence of sin, which can only be defeated by co-crucifixion with Christ and coming alive by the Spirit. Love stands down sin’s advances with the fruit of humble submission to God and to those who love God. True humility flows from Love.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5-8, NKJV).
The posture of a life that is emptied of self is the starting point of a humble heart. A prayer that begins with, “Dear Lord, I lay down my life and take on your life so that I might walk with you today in humble obedience.” Only as a mind is conscious of co-crucifixion with Christ do self-interests die, and do the desires of a heart align with God’s desires. And in this process of submission to Love…motives are made healthy, and the subconscious spirit within us looks for ways to elevate Jesus and discern how to love those present with us at the moment. You connect with another heart with an emotional response, “So sorry you lost your best friend, so tragic, praying for God’s comfort as you grieve.” Humility connects with comforting words. Humility is captivated by how to best love the one who is the affection of the Trinity’s love.
Be careful not to fall into the trap of hiding behind false humility as you project yourself to be someone you are not. A part of the process of walking in humility is to impose humility into your service for God to others. Jesus is the hero in your efforts to love well; humility deflects taking credit and defers glory to the Lord. Choose to serve in the lowliest of tasks and trust Jesus to advance your role when He has deemed you ready. And make sure during trials not to run away from responsibilities but to move toward relational mess and love another through the difficult days. Humility hunkers down during hard times with hard love and hard work. You only give up on yourself and others when the Lord has given up. Fortunately, divine love is longsuffering. Humility is a relational accelerator into a deeper love and intimacy with essential relationships.
“Serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me” (Acts 20:19).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, give me a humble heart to be loved by you and a humble mind to learn of you through Christ’s love, and in Jesus’ name, amen.
Application
What is your pose? How can you move more toward your true self?
Related Reading
Deuteronomy 8:2; Psalm 10:17; Isaiah 57:15; Matthew 11:29; Romans 12:16
Worship Resource
Taya: Getaway
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