GRACE AND HUMILITY
Having received God’s underserved kindness, there is an attitude He wants us to have, the attitude of humility
Whatever elevation or blessing we experience as a result of God’s grace, we can’t boast, because we didn’t earn it.
If God doesn’t bestow His blessing on you, work as hard as you want to work, you will not reap the harvest.
Grace sometimes works so subtly that you may attribute your success to your intelligence.
“For what makes a distinction between you and someone else? And what do you have that grace has not given you? And if you received it as a gift, why do you boast as though there is something special about you?”
1 Corinthians 4:7 TPT
There are two categories of tests that God does:
1. The test of your faithfulness to Him when you have nothing and
2. The test He runs on you when you have abundance, to see how you”ll handle it.
When your wealth begins to take you away from God, He may allow it for a while, hoping you”ll come to your senses but when you refuse to return to Him, you will be deprived of that blessing.
Everybody wants to feel important and you are important to God. Christ submitted himself to humiliation just because of you, so you are important to Him, it’s just that you are not more important to Him than every other person. Be humble.
“Likewise, you who are younger and of lesser rank, be subject to the elders (the ministers and spiritual guides of the church)–[giving them due respect and yielding to their counsel]. Clothe (apron) yourselves, all of you, with humility [as the garb of a servant, so that its covering cannot possibly be stripped from you, with freedom from pride and arrogance] toward one another. For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)–[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble. [Prov. 3:34.] Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you,”
1 Peter 5:5-6 AMPC
One attitude you must avoid like plague is pride. Pride will hinder the operation of God’s grace in your life. The danger about pride is that the proud person doesn’t know that he is proud.
Every time you think you are better than somebody else, you are proud!
We need to CULTIVATE humility!
Humility is the opposite of pride, the quality or state of heart that values other human beings and respects them.
The first thing we know about humility from the Bible is that God gives more grace and help to the humble and sets Himself against the proud.
The second thing we know about humility is that it always come before honor.
Nobody will promote a proud person.
No matter your level of blessing, condescend to a man of low estate.
If you pass the test of humility, God will take you higher.
As your shoulder is growing in pride, you are losing respect.
“A man’s heart is the proudest when his downfall is nearest, for he won’t see glory until the Lord sees humility.”
Proverbs 18:12 TPT
The third thing about humility is that God wants us to treat all men with humility.
“Tell them not to speak evil of anyone but to live in peace with others. They should be gentle and polite to everyone.”
Titus 3:2 ERV
Pride makes you talk down at people because if you value people, even if they are annoying, you won’t react rudely.
Practical ways to walk in humility towards others
- Listen more than you talk. Don’t be too absorbed with yourself. When you listen to people, you make them feel important
- Learn to give other people credit where it is due because nobody succeeds 100% on their own
- Give credit to God whenever you succeed
- Learn to admit you are wrong. Humility is recognizing you can’t always be right, that you make mistakes.
- Learn to put other people first. A humble person recognizes that his time is not more important than the other person
- Never jump a queue, when you do that, you grieve the Holy Ghost because it demonstrates a lack of regard for others
- Learn to ask for advice.
- Learn to praise people, don’t flatter them
Proverbs 3:5. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.6. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.7. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Let us walk in humility as we experience all that God has for us, we should never waste God’s grace.
Author: Pastor Sola Mabogunje