Humble....Revisited

In early August, I wrote a blog post about being humble. (You  can find it on the right side of the blog under "Blog Archive" by clicking "August, Humble". After posting it, I received constructive feedback from two dear friends that is important to share. Each gave a definition or clarification about the meaning of being humble which I neglected to make clear and am so glad they brought it to my attention!

My friend Elke shared this definition which she heard or read: "Humility is not thinking less of yourself it is thinking about yourself less." She said, "I like it because Christians have sometimes emphasized putting ourselves down, which isn't really Biblical if we believe we are created in God's image and 'God saw that it was good.' But it puts the other persons' needs before our own, just like Christ sacrificed for our needs."

 Genesis 1:27
"So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him; 
male and female he created them."

From my friend Steve: "When you speak of lowering one’s importance, I think it it is always good to affirm a persons value while they lower their sense of control or significance. Some people already have a very low opinion of themselves and consider themselves humble, but what really they are is proud because they are putting themselves down and not lifting anyone up. I love the definition of humility of: putting yourself down while you lift Jesus up. Just like John the Baptist said: 'I must decrease He must increase....' "

John 3:28-30

"You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, 

but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. 

The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, 

rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. 

Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.

He must increase, but I must decrease.”

They are so right! We are created by the God of the universe and in His image; therefore, we all have value and are important. Absolutely! Where we run into trouble is when we start thinking that we are better or more important than another human being. So if we combine the definitions they shared, we have something like this:  

Humble: 
Lifting Jesus up at all times, 

showing God's love to others more, 

and thinking of ourselves less.

What do you think?

I want to end with the last part of what Steve shared, because I absolutely love how he worded it. 

"We were created as a testimony to the giving Love of God. And we are to give glory to him by being in the flow of that love constantly outward to others."

Isn't that beautiful? I can picture God's love like a river that is flowing over us and all around us and as we are swept away by His love, we cannot help but let that love, His love, flow out to others that we come in contact with each and every day. It does not diminish who we are, it simply points others to who He is. Now that is a beautiful picture of humility. 

Rejoice!! (Whatever...Part 4)

Paul says "Rejoice!" He doesn't say rejoice when there's no pandemic, rejoice when you're healthy, rejoice when the bills are paid, or only rejoice when you are happy and things are going well. He says "Rejoice in the Lord always!" Then he repeats himself "Rejoice!"  Here's where our word comes in...whatever is going on in our lives and the world around us we are to Rejoice! Rejoice always!

"Always", wow! That's tough. Always: "at all times, on all occasions" - Rejoice! We don't even have to feel like rejoicing to actually do it. As I was thinking about this and working on this post, I began to realize that I was interchanging the words praise, rejoice, and thanks. I came across this definition of the difference when I Googled it:

From truthimmutable.com 

   "To be thankful concerns our response to what God has done.
    'Rejoice in the Lord' is about our personal, 

        intimate response to our God
     Praise is about His glory and power

    Worship is about His holiness and majesty

    Thanksgiving is about His grace, mercy, 

        and provision and His work on our behalf."

        
Rejoicing "is about our personal, intimate response to our God". As I looked at these definitions, it became clear that rejoicing, praising and worshiping all focus on God's character, who He is apart from what He has done. It turns our focus to Him. God who does not change like shifting shadows. God who is all-sufficient, everlasting, everywhere, all-knowing, steadfast, faithful, true, unshakeable, immutable, creator, almighty and even more.

This really helps me to understand rejoicing always. It's a conscience decision to turn our thoughts from ourselves and our cares and struggles to our awesome God and respond by showing great joy in who He is no matter what the circumstances may be - there is always joy in who He is. There is every reason to rejoice in God always. He is worthy at all times and in every season because He never changes. 

So it really should not be tough at all to rejoice always, because it has nothing to do with us or whatever is going on in our world. It's all about our response to our great God. May we say with the Psalmist:

My mouth is filled with your praise,

declaring your splendor all day long.

Psalm 71:8