DAY 261

WHO ME? I’M HUMBLE, LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT IT

Proverbs 27, 28 & 29 and 2 Corinthians 10

A man’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor—29:23

What does pride look like to you? What do think you look like when you are being prideful? What situations lead to you being prideful? I could go on with the questions.

The New Testament lesson seems as if Paul is being prideful; he writes phrases such as, “For the weapons of our warfare…have divine power” and “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion…” and “take every thought captive to the mind of Christ,” yet Paul writes, “I who am humble…”

Whenever I claim humility I realize I just lost it. I often think I can cross over from confidence to pride fairly easily…and yet false humility is no humility either. What is the “trick” as it were? Well it really is not a “trick.” The way through to humility runs straight through the Cross. Not an abstract understanding of the Cross, but a deep personal appropriation of the Cross. Let me be direct…finding the path between pride and false humility, to true humility…runs straight through knowing in our hearts that we are God’s, that anything we have is from God, and…that we need the Cross…that we know in our hearts that we fall short…so short that Jesus went to the Cross for us.

That knowledge should not depress us; rather it should keep us grounded; not getting too full of ourselves. It should also keep us upbeat because it means God loves us…a lot. So if we want to boast, we might boast that God loves us, or we might boast that Jesus died for us, or we might boast…well you get the idea. That is where Paul is coming from. He knows how he needs God, and by God’s grace he has God—or rather God has him. God has him and God has you. Stay with God; let you mind and heart and body be guided and governed by God. Live with God and the Cross deeply planted, and then you will know from which anything you accomplishes flows.