clothe ourselves in humility

"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble" 1 peter 5:5

last night was the last sermon in the sermon series "thirsting for GOD" by gary thomas. for those of you that don't know me i am a gary thomas junkie. i love his teachings. one of the things i know i admire about him is his humility. to be quite honest i can't name many individuals that have humility. what a shocker! as c.s. lewis said "pride is a cancer."

in our society it is viewed as a weakness; to GOD it is one of the ultimate acts of serving HIM. all of us have pride. for those of us that say we have humility; that's another act of pride. selfishness equals pride. the world has told us that we need to be glorified at all times for our choices and our acts of serving another. does GOD do this? in my opinion, no. our egos are too big to admit the gifts we've been given, or the failures that plague us.

mr. thomas said last night one of the main reasons why most marriages fail is because of pride. this didn't really surprise me. the reason why i say that is because every act that happens to force a marriage into divorce is pride. we begin to resent our spouse for not realizing what we need in a marriage, so pride and sin take over. we can't see past our own selfishness to see what the other individual needs and why. GOD designed marriage to be graced with humility; to serve one another with no other reward other than to GLORIFY GOD. husbands and wives are to serve one another.

i take pride in my failures more than i do my gifts. totally big issue right there! i have no idea how to create balance. i don't know how to accept someones encouragement, or compliments because i can't believe that about myself. this is a struggle i realize, and i need to work on this.

mr. thomas also brought up parenting and having humility in the home. i thought long and hard about this. if a couple cannot admit their failures too each other, seek forgiveness, and show humility how will our children learn that? one of the greatest gifts we can give children is humility; the complete act of serving GOD and another before themselves.

i have no idea how to find balance with the act of humility. i am also finding that i can only count maybe 3 individuals in my life that have found this balance. i know a lot of people.

i do know that two of the most disgusting displays of pride is our government and oprah winfrey. see i don't care what they have done for individuals; i just want them to do it without seeking glorification from everyone else. the only reason why they are doing it is for their own selfish means; they want the world to see them as wonderful beings - they are playing GOD.

"6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen." 1 peter 5:6-8