The Opposite of Pride (Part 1)

In order to truly not be proud I need to instead be humble. But how do I walk in true humility?

First of all, to combat pride we should be aware of a few things:

• We were made from dust.
• We would not be here if it wasn’t for our Perfect Creator.
• We can’t be “good” and make it to heaven on our own.
• Nothing we do can wash us clean and make us spotless before God.
• All the things I know about God have only been ‘revealed’ to me by God Himself.

My kids recently were taught the difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ at a summer camp. I get the 5-year-old’s interpretation from whatever bible teaching they just heard, which gives me a very simplified version, I’m sure. However, they explained to me that “sin” or doing something bad is like throwing dirt on a clean shirt. Ok, that sounds right. But do you know what my son said next? He asked me if being good made his shirt clean again? I stopped to think. I had to tell him the truth. “No, you will never be able to clean your own shirt. Only Jesus can make you clean.”

Isn’t that a little humbling?

There is no amount of service, kindness, patience, good deeds, feeding the poor, helping widows, etc, that makes you clean in God’s eyes.  The good thing is that…He cleans us. He sacrificed His own self to clean us and make us right with Him.

If I could walk in this every day, I would be sure to be humble. But I might also feel like nothing, and my life might seem purposeless. Is that true humility?

We need to be careful with pride not to swing the pendulum all the way to other side. Let’s talk about false humility later.

For now, would you join me this week? Would you seek God about areas you may be dealing with pride and not even know?

Tell me what you find out about pride and humility, and let’s walk in this together.