Tuesday, March 4, 2008

humbleness / humility

I was reading in Numbers the other day and this one verse just really caught my attention.

"Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." (Numbers 12:3)

What a thing to say about someone!

It got me started thinking. What does humble mean? What does a humble person look like?

In Scripture, the word humility is used to mean the same thing. Most often it is talking about putting yoursefl aside for God's glory; not being proud of oneself.

This is exactly what God calls us to! To be humble people . . . people who put aside our pride to bring Him the glory with our lives, not seek glory and recognition for ourselves. But being humble goes against what our sinful nature and our culture tell us. They tell us that we should be proud of ourselves and our accomplishments. While God doesn't say that we can't do things well or be successful; He does say that we need to do what we do for His glory, not our own.

The rest of Numbers 12 can read as an example of what happens when we become proud. Aaron's & Miriam's problems arose from their jealousy of Moses and pride in themselves. Pride always has consequences.

Scripture says that God give grace to the humble and opposes the proud. God desires for us to follow Christ's ultimate example of humility in dying on the cross for our sins in our place. And God extends His grace to those who are willing to humble themselves before Him and admit their need; not those who think they can do it all on their own.

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