So here is the first of four that I jotted down ( they may stretch into more than that before long, we'll just see how this goes ).
But first I have a request for my readers, if there really are any. [ ; Please, please, please leave comments! (FB comments or Blogger comments, whichever works best for you.) This is a responsive blog. I need your input, blog ideas, 2 cents the whole nine yards. This helps me know what to write about and whether or not you are enjoying my writing.
Okay now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's begin!
Humility vs. PrideI once heard the word pridefullness described as the feeling of "I don't deserve this." Which is essentially thinking of yourself as better than whatever your circumstances or situations are around you.
In contrast the definition for humility is also "I don't deserve this" but in a very different way...
Confused yet? Let me explain.
The bible says that God hates pride, and He has good reason. Pride is what drove Lucifer to defy Christ, pride is what brings down nations and destroys families. Pride destroys the very structure of how God created us to live together, with eachother.
To re-phrase my earlier quote, instead of saying pridefulness is the feeling of " I don't deserver this" lets say that it's the feeling of "I am better than this." Which is never, ever a good mindset to have, unless the "this" your referring to is sin, because when we are made new in Christ we are not better but striving to live like Christ, which would involve staying away from sin. But not because were better, because we know were not better, we know we are given to temptations, which leads me back to my original point....thinking "I'm better than this" completely overthrows humility.
Now I know your confused! [ ;
But pridefulness is a sin, and part of our sin nature, so naturally everone struggles with it from time to time.
Now lets switch over to humility for a bit, if pridefulness is a part of sin nature, than how do we combat it with humility? It's simple, but you can only do it if you truly know Christ.
Think back to the moment when you first realized all that God did for you on the cross. When you understood just how great your sin was, how cruel the punishment was meant to be, and how much love He must have had for you to spare your life in exchange for His. You were awstruck, greatful and heartbroken all at the same time, if your experience was anything like mine. But immediatly after I remember telling God "I don't deserve this kind of love." And from that one revelation, humility is born.
We know from that moment on that this life is not ours, that we not only owe it to Christ but love Him enough to want to give it to him. And on top of all that, our sin nature constantly reminds us of just how undeserving we are. When we forget this, we lose humility.
And so when we are right with Christ pridefulness is easily combatted. But we must be careful, because pride can easily seep in without us knowing it. One of the key things to remember is that people are not our enemy, we are in spiritual warfare against what the bible calls principalities. So when we become offended by another person, ( which is most often when I struggle with pride ) we must remember that everything we say and do points either to Christ or away from Him.
Now think of this in context with different relationships that you have, if we replied to more things with a heart full of humility what would others reactions be? It's almost the same as the verse that says : a soft answer turns away wrath. You can turn around a whole situation just by practicing humility.
Humility changes everything.
I know I've talked about pride on here before, but in truth it is a very loaded subject. These are my thoughts on the subject in a somewhat muted fashion. [ ;
And I hope I didn't confuse you too much!
