Being humble…easier said than done.

Posted on February 10th, 2012 by Pastor Koby Orr

So...I admit it. I struggle with pride.

Pride is one of those things that seems almost impossible to shed. Even as I make perceived progress, I am soon catching myself being prideful of how humble I have become...completely missing the point.  I define pride as an unrealistic, elevated view of oneself. The minute I think I am better than I am, or I think that I’m better than someone else...I have crossed into sinful pride.

Thankfully, as I look at scripture, I recognize that I am not the first person on earth to struggle with this sin. Even the Apostles, men who followed Jesus personally while he was here on earth, struggled with pride. In Luke 22, we see the disciples and Jesus on the day Jesus was betrayed, and the passage tells us in verse 24 that, “A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.” This strikes me as a bit funny. These 12 guys have been following Jesus around for three years at this point. They have seen him turn water into wine, make blind men see, make deaf men hear, cast demons out of people, walk on water, feed 5000, and yet the question in their mind happens to raise...who among us is the greatest? I don’t know...probably the guy who was born of a virgin! Call me nuts, but I didn’t see the Apostles do ANYTHING worth mentioning compared to Jesus. Yet that just illustrates how deeply we as humans wrestle with pride. Even the men who knew Jesus the best were overcome by their pride from time to time.

In my experience, I have learned, pride can only exist when two factors are present: an inflated view of oneself, and a diminished view of the cross of Christ. When my opinion of myself inflates, I am clearly demonstrating that I have lost sight of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for me on Calvary. When I am prideful, I have forgotten that my personal sin (even socially acceptable sin) was enough to warrant the death of the perfect, sinless, son of God. In order to redeem me and save me, Jesus had to go to the cross and suffer a humiliating, grotesque, and brutal torture and death. My sin warranted that...not anyone else’s sin...not the sin of the whole world...my sin alone and God loved me enough to put his son through all of that. When I remember the cross, and I remember Jesus, I also remember that I have NOTHING to be prideful of, and EVERYTHING to be thankful for and humble about.

In light of Christ’s cross, I move from pride, to humility and gratitude and I hope you do the same. When forced to look at the cross, I remember the grace that God has poured out on my undeserving life and I remember my salvation, purchased by the sinless son of God. One of my favorite verses has become James 4:6 which says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Every day we should make an intentional effort to live in humility and servanthood to Christ.  We will mess up, and we will make mistakes, but that’s where we can rely on the promise that, “God gives grace to the humble” and be comforted.

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