FOR WRITERS

FOR READERS

FOR PUBLISHERS




FREE CHRISTIAN REPRINT ARTICLES

Christian Articles for All of your Publishing Needs!

LIKE US
Translate this Page Here

FOR WRITERS

FOR READERS

FOR PUBLISHERS




Word Count: 794

Send Article To Friend Print/Use Article

Contact Jerry Ousley


Humility

by Jerry Ousley  
9/13/2008 / Christian Living


God has a way of making us humble. Have you ever heard someone brag about their humility? "I'm glad that I am humble . . ." Just as sure as we make that brag God has a way of exposing us. It's been said that the moment we think we are humble our hearts are lifted up in pride and we cease to be humble; that's a well taken point.

I know that God has little ways of keeping us humble. For instance, back in our pastoral days when we would have a special service coming up and I knew there would be a good crowd there, I would start feeling proud that I was going to get the opportunity to speak in front of a large group of people. Every time that happened I would wake up that morning with a big zit on my face, or no matter what I tried I wouldn't be able to get my hair to lay down, or I'd grab something to eat on the way to the service and spill it all over my clothes. It has a way of deflating an inflated ego.

Pride can come knocking with many personalities. For instance, we can be overly conscientious of how important we may be. But Jesus told us that to be a leader in the Kingdom of God we must first be a servant. What about someone who feels like they have all the answers? In reality none of us have all the answers. That privilege belongs only to God. We may use the terms "I" and "My" too much. When we do that's a sure sign that we think a lot of ourselves or that we are concerned more about ourselves than we are about others. The Lord told us to put God first, others second and ourselves last. An upside-down totem pole is a strange looking thing. That's about what we're looking at when we get "I" first before God and others.

Here's one that I don't have many problems with: Being proud of how good we look. I know that I'm not a good looking fellow. It takes me too long every morning to look bad enough to be presentable, let alone looking good. But some are blessed with being handsome or beautiful (depending if you are male or female). It's a big temptation for those beautiful people to be proud of how they look. However they need to watch out because God has a way of bringing them down. I've noticed that good looking people who know they are good looking and are proud of it, have a way of not looking so beautiful on the inside, or at least what leaks out to the outside from their inside.

What about those who are in positions of authority and "push their weight around?" They are lifted up in pride of their position. There are also those who are impressed by titles. Every book needs a title but that isn't necessarily reflective of how good the book is.

Then we have those who are proud of what they have done for God. There's nothing wrong with feeling good about being obedient to God but when we go around bragging about what God has allowed us to accomplish then we just might be in for failure. Some people almost fall over each other to obtain an important seat at the table, when Jesus told us to take the lower seats, then if we are invited to move to a seat of more importance we gain more honor.

Some people are proud that they have contact with important people. Then there are others who brag about their plans. Finally there are those who are lovers of reward, recognition, position and compensation. This just about covers everything we might be proud of (let me know if I've left out anything). The whole point to this is that we are told in Proverbs 16:18 that pride comes before destruction and a prideful spirit before a fall. In other words we are setting ourselves up for trouble when we are lifted up in pride. The Bible has a lot to say about pride.

I believe there are certain forms of pride that are okay. I don't believe that God is displeased with us when we are proud of our children or the accomplishments of others, and the reason for this is because we have put someone else in front of us. We are proud of what someone else has done. But our self-pride is a whole different matter. When we lift ourselves up above others because of pride, then we have lost humility and we better watch where we put our feet because a fall is shortly coming.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! Click here and TRUST JESUS NOW

Read more articles by Jerry Ousley

Like reading Christian Articles? Check out some more options. Read articles in Main Site Articles, Most Read Articles or our highly acclaimed Challenge Articles. Read Great New Release Christian Books for FREE in our Free Reads for Reviews Program. Or enter a keyword for a topic in the search box to search our articles.

User Comments

Enter comments below. Due to spam, all hyperlinks posted in the comments are now immediately disabled by our system.

Please type the following word below:


Not readable? Change text.



The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

Hire a Christian Writer, Christian Writer Wanted, Christian Writer Needed, Christian Content Needed, Find a Christian Editor, Hire a Christian Editor, Christian Editor, Find a Christian Writer


Main FaithWriters Site | Acceptable Use Policy

By using this site you agree to our Acceptable Use Policy .

© FaithWriters.com. All rights reserved.