Pride vs. Humility

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     First Peter 5:5-9 says, “ Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”

     Humility is one of those traits that once you think you have it, you don’t have it any longer.  Being involved in music for much of my life often resulted in “praise” from people for the particular ministry of music.  It was usually easy to accept what people would say in regard to the song and came to the point that I would respond with “Praise the Lord.”  It  would be easy to just say, “Thank you.” and go on from there, but that would not be the case.  No thanks would be from me for without God, there would be no ministry of music or any ot her thing for  that matter.   It may be regarded as an oxymoron when we become proud of our humility.  One man, a graduate of Duke Divinity School, had one of the longest  name plates on his door as it included the words, “Right Reverend, so and so with his degrees listed.  

     The above passage relates to us how important it is that we humble ourselves which is hard to do when you think about it.  We are reminded that  Satan is going around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  It may even happen to you or me quite easily.  One of the three avenues of sin is the pride of life where Satan used it in the Garden of Eden and also in the temptation of Christ and the Apostle John writes in connection with it in First  John 2.  It is clear that it is one of the  main avenues of sin in the world today.  As the passage goes on to say, It is God that exalts a person and not we ourselves.  So, just  when we think we are humble, we find that we have become proud of our humility and therefore are no longer humble, thus the oxymoron is seen.  This is why it is so important to incorporate Second Corinthians 10:5 into our lives by bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  Praise God today for His working in our lives.