Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Not just a word......Humility.



Good morning everyone. I responded to a pastor friend of mine on one of his posts yesterday. Sharing on a touchy topic with a lot of people. See this pastor was the friend that talked to me about doing this blog and set it up for me. I will have to say that the name has kind of bothered me for a while. But, I left it because he set it up for me and thought it might be weird if I changed it. Well, this morning I realized that there is no need for the blog to have my name in the title. You may think that it is not a big deal but, I guess it is to me. So, today I will be changing the name to "Digging into the good stuff." Well, let's dig into some of the good stuff and see why..........

Bible Verse: Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, but humility goes before honor.
 
Words have enormous power. They can make us erupt into laughter or bring tears to our eyes. They can influence, inspire, and sometimes shock. They can build and destroy. Some words have different effects on different people. One of those words is humility. First, let's define humility. The state or quality of being humble; freedom from pride and arrogance; lowliness of mind; a modest estimate of one's own worth. This is one of those words or actions that you really can't do part way. Some, like me, love the word and all it stands for. Some really are afraid of it and see it as a lack of self-confidence or maybe being timid. If anyone knows me, I am not a very timid person. Humility is one of the things that I have to constantly battle with. Remember I was a diver in the Navy and a policeman for almost 15 years. So, two jobs that lasted almost 20 years caused me to kind of be, not so humble. Then God got a hold of me and changed me in a big way. Let me stop for a second. For the record, not all servicemen nor policemen are prideful. But, I was. So, God grabbed a hold of me and He has been shaping me like clay in the potter's hands ever since. I pray every day He never stops.

Let's go back to humility. We often confuse humility with being timid or weak. Humility is all about keeping our pride about who we are and our self-worth in check. Not becoming arrogant. Arrogant pride often leads to messing people up. It has derailed careers and damaged friendships and relationships. You can be confident and not prideful. It's about being content to let others discover or see your talents without having to boast or brag about them. It's a lack of being arrogant, not a lack of aggressiveness in the pursuit of achievement. Let's not be fake, we all want to be first. We can be super aggressive and humble at the same time. Look at Tim Tebow. Wrap your mind around this for a bit, in Matthew 20:26-27 Jesus says " Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. This is so hard for us to do sometimes, but trust me, when you do God will use you in such a mighty way. I hope this short devotion today helps you as much as it did me. I once thought I was doing these devo's for others, only to find that I was really doing them for myself. So that I would dig into Gods' Word and study to show myself approved. Have a great day and God bless.



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