How to Live a Humble Life & Dismantle the Roadblocks to True Humility

The Holy Scriptures give us clear direct teachings and instructions on humility and being humble. In fact, the Bible gives us a wealth of such teaching because when it is added together just the verses that directly contain the word humble or humility the total is fifty-four times. Imagine fifty-four lessons from God on how to live a humble life. Wow. Here is just a TASTE of only FIVE such verses. See how rich they are? God commands us to pursue humility intentionally, to clothe ourselves with it. This is a virtue worth seeking.

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Col 3:12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Titus 3:2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. 1 Peter 5:5 Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Prov 22:4 Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life. Zeph 2:3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord's anger.

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Pride in Your abilities

Pride in Your economic status

Pride in Your deeds-- past, present, future

Pride in Your class

Pride in Your appearance

Pride in Your position

Pride in Your social status

Pride in Your inward spirituality

Pride in Your outward spirituality

Pride in Your intellect.

I looked in the dictionary for the definition for the word “EGO” and the #1 definition was “an inflated feeling of pride in your superiority to others.” This is truly helpful to understand that our EGO is easing God out of our lives if we allow it.

The humble person must adopt an accurate view of themselves and others in the world. Read below about how to do just that.

Easing

God

Out

Perfectionism is a disposition of feeling that anything less than perfect is unacceptable. A humble person is content with an average effort or an average performance whether it be his or another’s.

The truly humble person does not think better of himself because of any outward circumstance.

Think realistically of yourself, which is that you are “unworthy” except to receive God’s graces

When you hold this opinion of yourself, be content that others agree and do not be dismayed or angry at them for thinking you are not wise or with high intellect, etc.

You would be a hypocrite to think lowly of yourself, but then expect others to think highly of you!

The truly humble person nurtures a love to do good things in SECRET, concealed from the eyes of others.

Be content to go without praise, never being troubled when someone has slighted or undervalued you.

“There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit”—Ronald Reagan

Never say anything, directly or indirectly, that will provoke praise or compliments from others. Do not let your praise be the intended end of what you say.

Do not let praise for yourself be the design of your conversations.

When praise IS received say a simple thank you and return it and reflect it to God.

Do not take pride in any praise given to you. Rejoice in God who gives gifts others can see in you, but let it be mixed with a holy respect, so that this good does not turn into evil. Be on your GUARD that pride never enters in thereby rendering your praise a loss.

Do not ask others your faults or shortcomings with the intent or hidden purpose being to have others tell you of your good qualities! Some will speak lowly of themselves in order to garner from others an account of their own goodness. They are merely fishing or trawling for compliments, and yet it is THEY who end up being swallowed by the hook, by drinking the waters of vanity they swell up and burst. (excerpted from The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, by Jeremy Taylor circa 1650)

Do not seek out people who will speak well of you and take your side, in whose empty praises you may try to keep up your high opinion of yourself. Also, do not harbor any secret anger when you are slighted by someone, while concluding that they overlooked your value when you are seeking a humble lowly position yourself anyway.

Some people dream of greatness, imagining great wealth, great performances or great relationships with others watching and applauding. All of this is vapors of pride, exposing the hearts true desires. There may be nothing directly evil in this but such imaginings and fixations have noting to contribute toward your objective of humility.

Be active in praising others with genuine delight and in no situation give in to the desire to speak disparaging of someone or lessen their praise.

You should never think that hearing the good report of another in any way lessens your worth!

Be content when you see or hear that others are doing well in their jobs and with their income, even when you are not doing well.

Be completely content when someone else’s work is approved and yours is rejected.

When you look around, envision one person is more studied than you, another person is more frugal, another person is more charitable, or another person is less proud. Never compare yourself with others unless it be to advance your impression of them and LOWER your impression of yourself.

As we focus on the strengths of others, we begin to see our weaknesses more clearly.

The truly humble will not overlook others’ good virtues, or dismiss them, but rather, will reflect upon them.

The truly humble person will not only

look admirably at the strengths of others, but will also

look with great forgiveness upon the weaknesses of others.

The truly humble person will try to see how sinful deeds done by others were committed because the person was unenlightened or misled, concluding that if the person had the same benefits and advantages that you had, they may not have committed any such evil, but rather, would have done much good.

The humble person does not always try to excuse their mistakes, if you make one or an oversight or miscalculation, state it plainly because virtue scorns a lie for its cover.

The humble person learns to bear criticism patiently, knowing the harsh words of an enemy can be a greater motivator, even more than the kind words of a friend.

The humble person gives God thanks for every weakness, fault, and imperfection you have. Accept these “thorns” as a favor of God, an instrument to resist pride and nurse humility. If God has chosen to shrink your swollen pride he has made it easier for you to become humble.

Do not expose other’s weaknesses in order to make them feel less able than you. Neither should you think on your superior skill with any satisfaction, or use it to set yourself up above another person.

Remember that what is most important to God is that we submit ourselves and all that we have to Him. This requires that we be willing to endure whatever His will brings us to be content in whatever state we are in, and to be ready for every adventure and change He brings.

Humility begins as a gift from God, but is increased as a habit we develop.

Humility is increased by exercising it.

Many of these thoughts are excerpted from Jeremy Taylor’s work from c.1650 “The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living”

Russell E. Olson, Sr.

3-18-2009

Are You Experiencing Spiritual Dryness?

A Bit Spiritually Dry? Here is One Thing to Watch Out For . . .

“. . .After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”
Gal 3:3
1-6-09

I had a brief conversation with a pastor friend of mine. We agreed that there seems to be a state of general spiritual malaise among believers in our churches. Pastors and I and other leaders have identified this for years as a type of spiritual apathy or lethargy. With this condition one experiences dryness and a lack of fulfillment in spiritual lives. While searching for legitimate solutions to the problem, there is also a strong allure for a quick fix of spiritual activities. This is usually what is attempted by the believer and even what is recommended by leaders to solve their spiritual apathy.

Unfortunately, believers usually have already attempted going down this path of “doing more stuff for God and church.” They were still left spiritually frustrated, dry, unfulfilled, without peace and joy which should accompany a believer who is following the will of the Father. But sometimes the believer will gain a temporary “feelgood” as a result of doing these good works and of course he/she will definitely benefit from positive affirmations from fellow believers, Christian leaders and even those they are serving. But it won’t be long before the believer loses that temporary endorphin based feeling and is left with his/her old situation of spiritual apathy and dryness except now he/she may have an extra busy schedule due to activity commitments and must pull themselves up by their bootstraps to attempt to meet their commitments. Doesn’t sound like holy sacramentally infused service to me. Instead, this sounds like manmade effort put forth to achieve spiritual goals.

We have a choice when faced this dilemma. One way of expressing the choice is to say the quick fix solution of doing activities, to be a more spiritual person, is to offer a believer a list of things to do and not to do. This, of course, has a feel in many regards to being like “the law” as described in scripture. However, when a believer trusts Christ as Savior and Lord, he is committing to a NEW way of life. He is putting away the old law of approval by performance and acceptance by activity.

Ironically, this old way is definitely EASIER in some ways than the new way. HOW? When embracing the law you know much more definitively what you had to do “A,B,C.” Attempting to follow the law also means doing more spiritual activities got you more “good works points” in everyone’s ledger or books that were keeping track of good works. Living by the Law means life was more quantifiable and measurable so it is easier to put our arms around how to follow the “life of the Law.”

As Christians though, this is NOT what we signed up for. When we believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ and called upon His saving Blood to redeem us by His Atoning power, He blessed each of us with the indwelling PERSON of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, according to Jesus,

“when the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. It is for your good I am going away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. But when he, the Spirit of Truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, . . . he will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” (John 16)

So the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth including revealing and testifying about Jesus and act as Counselor within us to assist us and guide and aid in discernment, as we listen he will “speak only what he (himself) hears (from Jesus or the Father).” This process of living requires the believer to have the wax out of his ears, and the blinders off his eyes so that he might learn to be attuned to the Holy Spirit of God. Rather than “settling” for the old way of the law.

Let us never forget the Apostle Paul’s words to people stuck in this same situation. In Galatians 3 “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. Did you receive the Spirit by observing the Law, . . . are you so foolish? AFTER BEGINNING WITH THE SPIRIT, ARE YOU NOW TRYING TO ATTAIN YOUR GOAL BY HUMAN EFFORT?”(vv1-3)

“But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are TURNING BACK TO THOSE WEAK AND MISERABLE PRINCIPLES? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?” (Gal 4:9) Let us not turn back to legalistic principles of doing more activity, principles with which we become so easily entangled. We signed up for something different.

Yes, we signed up for the way by the Spirit. This “way” calls upon us to depend upon the discernment available to us because He indwells a believer who has given control over to Jesus. This is very different than depending upon “A,B,C,” spiritual activities for spiritual fulfillment and good works where you will find approval from others. We serve God. He has given us the Holy Spirit because Jesus left specifically so we would have the tools for the kind of discernment we are talking about here.

The “way” WE signed up for, God made us sons of God!! Sonship! Heirs to Eternal Kingdom! Everlasting Life to Learn How to Worship, Grow and Serve Forever at His feet. “God sent his son . . . born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE FULL RIGHTS OF SONS. Because you ARE sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts . . . so you are no longer a slave, but A SON; and since you are a SON, God has made you also an HEIR!” (Gal 4:4-7)

Lasting spiritual fulfillment is not to be found in the old way, however, when we begin living in the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of Sonship the Lord will have helped us find our “way.”

Russell E. Olson, Sr.
1083
1-6-09