humility

​Humility is a very important element of Christians who want God's best. Without an understanding of true humility men will practice false humility. Bowing our heart to Jesus is an act of humility, but some folks go too low. You can hear it in their confession, "O, Lord I am so unworthy of You, please give this worm of a servant the stripes I deserve". This is not Bible humility, this is man's idea of humility and God is not impressed. Listen to a humble confession, "O, Lord I was a sinner ready to parish but You heard my prayer and You saved me and made me righteous!"

2 Corinthians 5:17 If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold all things are become new.

It requires humility to act like the new creature Jesus made us to be. Some Christians struggle to accept the fact that God made them just as righteous as Jesus! God only has one level of righteousness. No believer can have a portion of His righteousness, it's all or nothing. No man can receive everything Jesus died for without humility.

Humility perceives everything just as it is.

There is never a good reason to exaggerate, which means to represent something as being larger, better, or worse than it really is. God has presented Himself in such a way that there is never an excuse to change anything about Him. God is all in all. He is everything the Word says He is and He is the same in all people. He does not change to accommodate anyone. In humility we change to accommodate Him and we are the better for doing so. Without humility we will change God to fit our preconceived ideas of who we think He should be.

Mathew 8:8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that you should come to my house:
but speak the word only and my servant will be healed.

For many years the church used this Scripture to prove to the people that they are not worthy of God's presence. This is a classic example of how men interpret the Scriptures to fit their narrative. If they would have read the whole Bible and submitted themselves to God, they would have discerned the truth of this event. The centurion was a Roman and the Jews called them gentiles and dogs. They were not welcome in the house of the Jews. The centurion was not worthy because he was not a Jew, but it did not matter to Jesus. He would have gone to his house because of his faith. Some Christians have been so indoctrinated that they can't accept God wanting to bless them with anything.

Philippians 2:8 And Jesus became a mere human being and He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Jesus had to become a man in order to pay the price for the freedom of all men. He humbled Himself in order for all men to be saved and be delivered from hell. He died so that all men could be made wealthy. Now we must be as humble as He was in order to receive everything He died to give us. What was His humility? He obeyed the Father and offered Himself as God's perfect and last Lamb. Now we must humble ourselves in obedience to receive everything He died to give us. To judge yourself worthy of His death is to deny His crucifixion and make Him a liar. Let us not be so foolish, let us honor Christ by receiving the blessing from His death.