Humility Reverses Pride
Scoop #3
In
today’s circle of worldly advice, humility is not considered to be a wise thing. Humbleness is not a popular word and is kinship to
repentance, especially when you begin to admit you have made some wrong choices
in your lives. “Keep your pride!" the world says. “Being
humble is a sign of weakness!” Nothing could be further from the truth.
Humility requires being like a green willow branch that will bend. True humbleness is so powerful it will make
you crumble inside and will begin to empty all the poison that was destroying
you. Picture a mason jar filled with moldy rotten food canned years ago. The
forgotten jar sat upon on a dusty shelf and left unopened for years, and over
time, a person could see the stagnancy of the milky substance by one simple
glance. I wouldn’t eat that, would you? This is how we look when we become
prideful. Our outer layer of flesh breeds on pride. That milky substance is the weakness that our selfishness
produces and it is called, “Me.”
Eventually
that pride will fall before our Saviors feet.
Self-pride
is a deceiver. Why do we exalt ourselves over earthly achievements when our
Creator was the one who gave us those abilities? Should we not give Him all the
credit?
A
humble and thankful heart is what gets God’s attention.
I was
asked many years ago why I believed in such an archaic religious system? I replied,
that “archaic” system is truth, and it changed my whole life when I began to
read the Book of John. Real life is not easy. Early in my life, I discovered I
was betrayed, abandoned, lied to, and abused in my early childhood years. Growing
up, I asked; what was true love anyway? What was my identity? In not knowing my
biological father and having a series of step-fathers I would ask, who was I? After
a divorce, I found myself raising 3 sons as a single mother. There were challenging
times when the car conked out on the way to work. Times, when I could not
afford to get the car fixed or buy the tires it needed. I never received child
support. I was alone. The hardest trial was finding a good, decent trustworthy
babysitter. My heart was always on my children when I was at work. Those were times when you learned how to
stretch meals yet, still eat nutritiously. Times when you tried to attend all
their sport games, take them to the Drs and hold their hands when they got hurt,
nurse them through the flu or when one turned green from the chewing tobacco
after a game. I searched to offer encouragement and love for them to hopefully
grow up without too many hang ups. We teach our children by the examples we give,
and my example was by the world’s standards without God before I was born-again.
This was before I read The book of John.
I was
destroying myself by worldly and fleshly standards and did not realize it. We
really do reap what we sow in this life. One sin will always open the gate to
add more in your life, that is the way it works. There is a process to sinning
and I did my share/ You might ask, “what did you do?” I say to you, “Enough!”
Then,
as my sins piled up in front of me, I discovered I was helpless to get myself
out of the pit I had dug for myself. Searchingly, I started reading in the Book
of John in the Bible all about God’s love. I learned He loved me before I even
knew Him. And I also read,
“In
reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God
unless he is born again.” John 3:3
Notice,
Jesus said “I tell you the truth!”
Jesus
Christ was the Lamb of God upon the cross and He was sent by God to be that
pure sacrifice for us to be set free from a slavery of sin. This means, He was
sinless. Think about what seems to hold
you back from seeking God? That one thing you do not want to let go of. Before
Christ, we are all slaves to something. There is something that walks with you
every day. Sometimes it is called a crutch. This crutch can prevent you from
seeking the truth about God. It is also called fear. The Bible talks about
loving sin more than the truth. Seeking God requires humbleness and one single
step in the right direction. It is
admitting that you have sinned against God and mankind. All honest godly
believers have walked through that door. What we do does affect those we love. You may
consider yourself a good person and do not hurt anyone, but that isn’t what the
Bible says.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that
came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through
faith in his blood.” Ro.3:23-24
Yes, I
struggled before I was born-again, and it was because of sin. Most of my
problems were because of bad choices and not thinking of the consequences that
go along with those decisions. They were self-induced. I was an ignorant, fleshly,
prideful selfish person. Perhaps I
thought: “No one really cares, why should I?”
Of course, that was a lie, because I did love and care for my children;
but without God, how could I give them the best? How could I give them the true
love of Christ? I was giving them a bad
example.
As I continued
to read the Book of John, I believed what I was reading. I will never forget
that first moment I believed. My whole life changed! The words leaped out from
the pages, and I knew it was truth! I knew Jesus was the complete answer to my
life. I surrendered my life in prayer, holding
nothing back. Everything inside of me
was emptied out that day, like the poison from that old mason jar.
I read
salvation is a free gift of Grace [ I did not deserve it] from God. By faith, I
believed. I needed His forgiveness! I needed the love He offered! I needed the
truth! I wanted everything He offered me, and He gave it all to me!
His
Holy Spirit comes and does a work inside of your heart. Being born-again is a
supernatural experience from God Himself. God is a Spirit, God is LOVE.
I
became just like the word says, “I became a new creature [a new person] in
Christ, all the old things were passed away in my life and everything became
new.” I looked at things differently
because I saw them differently. I was given new eyes to see the pure, holy
truth. I no longer had a hard heart that was caused by abuse, unforgiveness, anger
and pride. But was given a soft flexible
new heart that forgives others. I was set free, to grow in The Holy Spirit by
the word and with each new promise given to me as I studied, I received by
faith. When you walk in humbleness and truth your conscience will be clear and
you will be filled with the joy of the Lord. It is no wonder that King David
danced before the Lord with all his might.
You
might be thinking that you have done so much in your life, how could a good
loving God ever forgive you? There is nothing too big or small that God won’t
forgive. Jesus said that when someone calls upon Him, He would never cast them
out.
But you
might ask; “You don’t know what I have done in my life.” You may be thinking, “If
I clean up myself before I come to Him, maybe then He will accept me.” I once
thought that way because I already knew how unworthy I was. I knew I was a
sinner. That kind of thinking is a lie,
because without the power of the Holy Spirit we cannot clean up our own lives.
We can try, but it won’t work, and this is why Jesus went to the cross. He
gives us goodness and mercy in exchange for our humble repentance.
Do not
hesitate over your decision.
Loving
the world more than when He is knocking on the door of your heart is not worth
risking eternity.
Do I
still have trials and tests? Of course, this is how we learn to be overcomers
and our faith is also increased. My trust is in God as His Holy Spirit takes me
through each trial and test. I give Him all the credit and glory in my life. In
time, you will learn consistency.
That
one small step of faith will take you into a new life, now. Accepting Jesus from your heart is a life
changing experience. He heals the wounds of your soul and gives you comfort and
counsel where you need it. He is the divine restorer.
Pray
with me.
Heavenly
Father,
I know
I am a sinner. I need a new life. Please forgive me my sins: [name them]. Come into my life and make me into a new person
in Your Son Jesus Christ. Give me the help I need to do this. Fill me with Your
Holy Spirit, truth, and love. Guide me, direct me, and feed me your way and
take all my worldly stains away and replace them with Your pure word. I ask
that You make me into a strong believer, and I ask that I meet many other
believers to help on my journey. Thank you, Father, in Jesus I ask, amen.
If you have humbled yourself and prayed
that prayer of faith, the Bible declares you have been born-again.
Congratulations and welcome into the family! Now you need to learn to study God’s
truth and link up with likeminded believers. They will help you through the
tough times and pray for you.
