Humility is something I wish I had more of. I think it's safe to say that many people also wish they were more humble but I believe humility comes at a cost. To be humble, according to webster's dictionary, requires someone to not be proud or haughty. Another way of saying it is to not be arrogant or assertive. Most of us can relate to at least one of these definitions. For me, I can relate to both. I can be proud at times and I can be assertive. This past week however has both broke of my pride and has left me wondering about God's plans which in turn, has made me less assertive in conversations.
Before this week, I always thought of myself as an outstanding guy who to be honest, thought that whoever I would have a relationship with was lucky to be with a guy like me. Do you see the pride in that? It's pretty ugly stuff.
Well after hearing some pretty shocking news about one of my past relationships, that outstanding guy I thought I was, got ripped apart... I broke and I didn't understand. I felt like I was on the ground and Satan was kicking me. Have you ever felt that way? It isn't a good feeling.
It took me couple days of being emotionally down and out to get back on my feet and if I didn't have awesome friends I don't know how long it would have taken me otherwise. One verse that I read in 1st Peter 5:7 really helped with this whole process. It says, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." What a refreshing verse and if you have some extra time you should read the verses before to see the irony in it. At this point in the week I was doing ok, but it wasn't until today where one simple demonstration helped me realize some stuff about how God views us as opposed to how we view ourselves.
The pastor pulled out a dollar bill and asked us what it was worth. The answer isn't tricky. It's only worth a dollar. Then he proceeded to beat up the dollar bill, crumpling it, rubbing it, rolling it up, etc. Well even though this dollar bill looked in worse shape after the beating the worth of the dollar bill is still the same. This translated to even though in life we get beat up, torn down and defiled God still views our worth as the same as when he first created us. And incase you don't know, we are worth a lot. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son..." John 3:16
This whole week hasn't been easy and I hope I don't have another week like this for a long time, but the thing is, even though it was hard and hurt tremendously, humility did blossom out of this and that is good.
"'God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble (Proverbs 3:34' Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may life you up in due time."
With all this in mind, I want to make sure that you understand that, Satan will kick you when you are down because he is is out to destroy God's people. But please do not focus on that like I did. Please just focus on God and his promises when and if you get torn down by your pride.
