Lessons in Humilty

A few days ago, we attended our grandson, Dominic’s pre-school Christmas program. Some of Dominic’s classmates rang bells to the tune of a familiar Christmas carol. Not wanting to miss the perfect timing to ring his bell, one little guy got so overly excited that when his moment finally arrived, he hit himself in the head with his bell! Bamboozled by the incident, he held one hand to his throbbing forehead while unsuccessfully attempting to get back into rhythm with his bell in the other hand. Poor little fella!

Lessons in humility start early, don’t they? But, why do they have to be so stinkin’ painful? Could it be because of the critical importance of humility in our relationship with God and with others?

Humility can be defined as, "A quality by which a person considering his own defects has a humble opinion of himself and willingly submits himself to God and to others for God's sake."

Humility is said to be the foundation of our spiritual life and inferior only to faith. However, humility is considered the leading virtue inasmuch as it removes the obstacles to faith. It removes pride and makes a man subject to and a fit recipient of grace. According to the words of St. James, God resists the proud, and gives his grace to the humble, (James 4:6).

A humble person recognizes their total dependence on God.

The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority.
He has accepted God's estimate of his own life:
In himself, nothing; In God, everything.
He knows well that the world will never see him as God sees him
and he has stopped caring.
-- A.W. Tozer

You know what struck me most about the little bell ringer? I’m not sure that he gave one thought to the 250 hundred people witnessing his blunder. It seemed that his only concern was ringing his bell! Oh, to be so humble that we are more concerned about using our gifts for the Glory of our King than what others might think of our performance!

Therefore anyone who humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, (Matthew 18:4).

God’s richest blessings to you as you seek to glorify Him throughout this new year!

Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie