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Pastor's Corner |
| A Humble Heart |
Luke 14:11: For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall
be exalted.
Humility may not be a characteristic that the world exalts in, but they don’t understand God’s ways. 1
Peter 5:6 says, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at
the proper time.” There are no shortcuts to true exaltation, something only God can bestow. What is sure
is that those who are humble in heart will, at the proper time, be exalted. If we want to truly be exalted we
need to truly be humble, saying with our Savior the ultimate expression of humility, “Lord, not my will but
Yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
Let’s look at six examples of why God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
1. The Humble Heart understands dependence upon God.
John 15:5 makes it clear that apart
from Jesus we cannot accomplish anything without HIM. It is impossible to do God’s will and to store
up treasure in heaven if we think that we are able without God. The humble rightly understand their
insufficiency and powerlessness apart from Christ.
2. The Humble Heart trembles before God’s Word.
There is a love and reverence for what God
says that clearly sets apart the humble from the proud. Isaiah 66:2 says, "But to this one I will look, to
him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word." God not only delights in those
who tremble before His Word, but He promises to look to them to use them mightily for the purposes
of the kingdom. Those with humble hearts don’t read God’s Word carelessly but rather with hearts that
are tender to what God’s Word might have to say to them to convict them or teach them. They take
God’s Word seriously and the act of hearing it with great reverence.
3. The Humble Heart is willing to own up to sin.
Isaiah modeled this in Isaiah 6:5 when he cried
out to God in acknowledgement of his uncleanness. In light of God’s holiness, he realized that his sin
would destroy him. He wanted God’s cleansing, and God forgave him and commissioned him for
service. To be used of God, we must first be humble, a significant part of which involves dealing with
any sin in our hearts promptly, readily, and rightly.
4. The Humble Heart is willing to acknowledge human weakness so that Christ can show
Himself to be strong.
Paul rightly understood that God’s power is perfected in our weakness and
that it is in our weakness that He can be strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). God allowed Paul to suffer
so that he would not be tempted to exalt himself (2 Corinthians 12:7). He knew that Paul could fall prey
to pride given all of the wondrous things he had seen and experienced. So God ordained suffering for
him to remind him that he was but a very weak human being who needed God for everything. We
need to remember our weakness if we want to let Christ be strong through us.
5. The Humble Heart has the fruit of obedience.
The Israelites cried out to God in Judges 10:15-16, “The sons of Israel said to the LORD, "We
have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to You; only please deliver us this day. So they put
away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and He could bear the misery of
Israel no longer.” As long as Israel held on to their worship of fake, foreign deities, they were
opposed to God. God in His great love for them allowed them to suffer at the hands of foreign peoples.
If their gods were so powerful, they only needed to trust in them. So God taught them a valuable lesson
about Who has true power, and the people repented and put their gods away from them. Truly
humble hearts that truly repent and turn to God will no longer be opposed by God. When we draw
near to God, immediately He will draw near to us. He only wants us to be humble enough to call sin
“sin” and to deal with it by repenting and seeking the forgiveness that He is fully ready and prepared
to offer. The humble heart is an obedient heart.
6. The Humble Heart accepts the role of servant.
We must realize the importance of being a servant in this life if we want to be great in the next. Jesus
said in Mark 9:35, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” The way to
greatness in the life to come is by being a servant in the present. Jesus demonstrated this to the
utmost in that His purpose in coming was not to make the most people like Him, to gain the most
popularity, or to gain a position of great earthly power. His mission was to lay down His life for His
sheep (John 10:11-15). He came not to be served, but to serve (Mark 10:45). Now He is exalted in
heaven with great power, but in this life He was a servant .
