Striving For Humility

Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Luke 14:11

HUMILITY IS A tricky trait for us to wrap our minds around. That’s because as soon as we think we’ve achieved humility—we’ve lost it. After all, truly humble people don’t have any idea that they’re humble, right? They don’t concentrate on themselves enough to even form that conclusion.

Even so, it’s important that we strive for humility as followers of Christ. Or, to say it another way, it’s important that we avoid exalting ourselves at all costs. It’s important that we do everything in our power to prevent tooting our own horns and promoting our own interests over the interests of others (and the interests of God). Because if we exalt ourselves, God has promised to teach us true humility in a way we probably won’t enjoy.

On the other hand, if we choose to live humbly and avoid self-exaltation, God has promised to lift us up. Why? Because humility allows God to trust us with his blessings. When we’re humble, we don’t allow success to go to our heads and result in the kind of pride that can derail God’s work in our lives (and in the lives of others). Humble people are eminently usable in the Kingdom of God.

So humble yourself before God. Give him the complete freedom to work in and change your life for the better, even if it hurts your pride. His promise is that you’ll be blessed—even exalted—as a result. And being exalted by God is much better than exalting yourself.