pride
prīd/
noun
noun: pride; plural noun: prides
a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
"the team was bursting with pride after recording a sensational victory"
synonyms:
pleasure, joy, delight, gratification, fulfillment, satisfaction, a sense of achievement
"take pride in a good job well done"
hu·mil·i·ty
(h)yo͞oˈmilədē/
noun
noun: humility
a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness.
synonyms:
modesty, humbleness, meekness, diffidence, unassertiveness; lack of pride, lack of vanity; servility, submissiveness
"he accepted the award with sincere humility"
**Note: While believing in our LORD Jesus Christ's teachings is certainly a requirement, it is by NO stretch of thee imagination a complete and true definition of what being a Christian truly entails, but I pray by the end of this "buffet" of what might seem to be different helpings from a variety of my "brain food" I might sow a seed humbleness within your heart that the LORD Jesus Christ who is God the father will continue to nurture and grow in you by his power and glory may it be according to his will.
Chris·tian
ˈkris-chən
noun
noun: Christian
1: a person who believes in the teachings of Jesus Christ
or....
2: the hero in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress?
No doubt Christian's a cool dude and all, but his opinions or views on life and death are as useless to me as a shirt is in a Matthew McConaughey movie, not a chance bud.
So what does humility have to do with anything? Simply put, it has everything to do with a Christian life and your walk with Jesus Christ our LORD, In a culture of "me, myself and I" where social media, selfies, shares and likes give us that gratification our flesh so desperately craves and where the number of "followers" or so called "friends" we have online has become a measurement of our social standing as we fill up our walls, our blogs and our feeds with pictures and posts ad nauseam of non other than ourselves, when the LORD Jesus Christ who is the LORD of lords, KING of kings and GOD of gods, who came to serve and not be served, even so being the name above all other names the ALMIGHTY GOD INCARNATE! and being the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the Great IAM of the old Testimate, the creator of ALL things, He who IS, WAS and ALWAYS will be and blessed be his name, He did not have to descend from his throne on high, He wasn't made to by anyone, nor did anything force his hand as He is the living GOD who does not have to react to anything for anyone in any situation at anytime, he knowest ALL things . Only in the minds of man have we put limits on his power, as He is so infinitely above our thinking and no man can even start to comprehend or begin to fathom his Awesomeness...just let that sink in for a second exactly who Jesus Christ is. The Second of the Holy Trinity while remaining one GOD humbled himself whereas to wash the dirty, sweaty, stinking feet of his disciples, put yourself to that test and think "would I wash someone's feet"? Let alone someone if you're the head honcho and in front of the rest of the "crew"? It's something so petty and foolish sounding to even think about but honestly, would you right now stop what you're doing, look up from your screen and wash the feet of the next stranger you see? The answer 9 outta 10 times is going to be absolutely no way, and why is that? And not meaning to answer my own question with a question but "why would I?" why would anyone? and those are perfectly logical responses I would say, so for this scenario let me paint a picture, imagine not even a stranger but a friend of yours, approached you on the street and has most obviously not bathed in sometime while a massive heatwave has just hit your location, say they were visibly distraught, they plead with you "Please my feet, my feet"! "can you please wash my feet friend"? and for whatsoever reason at least for my sake of not having to elaborate on this ridiculous fictitious scenario too much as it does not matter in the end, would you wash your friend's feet? chances are still absolutely no, that is unless there was some monetary gain involved etc... so we can surely come up with a multitude of reason why, be it hygiene or maybe feet just aren't your thing blah blah whatever it is your lying to yourself, but I can say with 100% confidence 100% of the time that it is 100% PRIDE! and this notion has taken me a long time to really realize just how truly prideful, selfish and narcissistic I can really be and most of my Christian life up until recently has been just that, all about ME!, and as a husband and Father of Four this has proven to cause great strife in my family life. Even within writing this article I find it Hard to keep the spotlight off "me" for as pastor and author Rick Warren put it "it's not about you!" (that's not my endorsement of him or his book, but when a man is right a man is right) and as we see from scripture that,
"He must increase, but I must decrease" - John 3:30 KJV
That is Jesus Christ in your life must,
in·crease
verb
verb: increase; 3rd person present: increases; past tense: increased; past participle: increased; gerund or present participle: increasing
inˈkrēs/
become or make greater in size, amount, intensity, or degree.
"car use is increasing at an alarming rate"
synonyms:
grow, get bigger, get larger, enlarge, expand, swell; More
rise, climb, escalate, soar, surge, rocket, shoot up, spiral;
intensify, strengthen, extend, heighten, stretch, spread, widen;
multiply, snowball, mushroom, proliferate, balloon, build up, mount up, pile up, accrue, accumulate;
And you must,
de·crease
verb
verb: decrease; 3rd person present: decreases; past tense: decreased; past participle: decreased; gerund or present participle: decreasing
dəˈkrēs/
make or become smaller or fewer in size, amount, intensity, or degree.
"the population of the area has decreased radically"
synonyms:
lessen, reduce, drop, diminish, decline, dwindle, fall off.
Amen!, Amen!, Amen! if you take one thing from anything I say here I hope it is that scripture. But wait..."Make or become smaller"? Now, at first read, this statement might not exactly be how we as a culture generally think of ourselves or sound like something one wants to do. but you need to take a step back sometimes and think where we as humans come from, and cue scripture:
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, and man became a living soul." - Genesis 2:7 KJV
dust
dəst/
noun:
noun: dust
fine, dry powder consisting of tiny particles of earth or waste matter lying on the ground or on surfaces or carried in the air.
"the car sent up clouds of dust"
synonyms:
dirt, grime, filth, smut, soot; fine powder
"the desk was covered in dust"
Not exactly flattering is it "tiny particles of earth or waste matter lying on the ground", so then in reality what does anyone really have to be prideful of? one might think with this definition in mind that any one person would have to be humbled by default, but sadly no.
To quote a line from book three of C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" titled "Christain Behaviours" number 8 "The Great Sin" reads,
"if I am a proud man, then, as long as there is one man in the whole world more powerful, or richer, or cleverer than I, he is my rival and my enemy."
You might be thinking what does any of that have to do with humility? Well in fact pride or to be proud is the polar opposite of humility. To show true humility or in other words, to truly humble ourselves is what our Father in Heaven truly desires for us, But why?
to conclude this little blurb of what could go on for days if I had the time, The Lord wants each person individually to humble themselves to him so it may be made clear in one's heart and they may come to admit that they need help, they alone cannot handle the burdens of life this world throws on our prosthetic shoulders at times. But find your peace and rest with the one eternal almighty holy being who is Our father who art in heaven, scripture states.
Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for
“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:5-6
May the Lord Pour out his blessings on you and your family abundantly and beyond measure.
-Mitch
ps. always remember,
and of course for good measure.
