Humble
Bible reading: James 4
James 4:10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” ESV
As a child of Christ, pride and selfish ambition have followed me throughout my life.
The message of society has always been to look out for yourself and your family, work hard and find success. Success as measured by material goods, worldly possessions, positions of power and friends of influence. Building a life, family and career requires dedication, determination and hard work. A natural result of success is to have pride in the success and the life that is being built. Pride and confidence in worldly accomplishments can become detrimental to my walk with Christ. If I become too confident in my own ability to provide and succeed, measuring my success by the standards of the society in which I live then I become less dependent on God and more dependent on my own ability. This leads me to only seeking God and his blessing to supplement my plan and provide when my ability falls short.
His word tells me to humble myself before him in James. In Matthew the Lord tells those who would follow him to “Take up your cross and follow me...” Matt 16:24. The cross was an instrument of death and once someone took up their cross they were on their way to be executed. When we take up our cross we die to self and live for Christ. The only way we can become truly humble before God is through taking up of our cross and following him. When we fully humble ourselves before him we do not live according to the expectations of the world but according to the expectations of our heavenly father.
Seek today how you can humble yourself before God, asking him to show you through his Holy Spirit, how to become humble before him and how to “Walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8 ESV. For this is what the Lord demands of his children.
David Warr
Pastor, Gretna Baptist Church
Bible reading: James 4
James 4:10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” ESV
As a child of Christ, pride and selfish ambition have followed me throughout my life.
The message of society has always been to look out for yourself and your family, work hard and find success. Success as measured by material goods, worldly possessions, positions of power and friends of influence. Building a life, family and career requires dedication, determination and hard work. A natural result of success is to have pride in the success and the life that is being built. Pride and confidence in worldly accomplishments can become detrimental to my walk with Christ. If I become too confident in my own ability to provide and succeed, measuring my success by the standards of the society in which I live then I become less dependent on God and more dependent on my own ability. This leads me to only seeking God and his blessing to supplement my plan and provide when my ability falls short.
His word tells me to humble myself before him in James. In Matthew the Lord tells those who would follow him to “Take up your cross and follow me...” Matt 16:24. The cross was an instrument of death and once someone took up their cross they were on their way to be executed. When we take up our cross we die to self and live for Christ. The only way we can become truly humble before God is through taking up of our cross and following him. When we fully humble ourselves before him we do not live according to the expectations of the world but according to the expectations of our heavenly father.
Seek today how you can humble yourself before God, asking him to show you through his Holy Spirit, how to become humble before him and how to “Walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8 ESV. For this is what the Lord demands of his children.
David Warr
Pastor, Gretna Baptist Church
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