God's help needed to be humble

We’ve been thinking about what it means to live as Jesus did. First John 2:6 says, “Anyone who says he is a Christian should live as Christ did.” (TLB) To live like Jesus, we must learn to build certain values into our lives.

Jesus possessed discernment. He was a man of integrity. This week we’ll consider the next value that Jesus models for us, which is humility.

Humility is another word that’s totally misunderstood in our culture these days. A lot of people think humility is saying, “I’m worthless. I’m no good. I’m nothing.” But humility is not false modesty. Humility is not about being quiet and reserved. Humility is not denying your strengths. It is not about being a doormat. In a word, humility is dependence. Humility is dependence upon God. The more humble you are, the more you depend on God and the less you depend on yourself. That’s what humility is all about.

In Matthew 5:3, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” So, what does it mean to be poor in spirit? It means you’re humble. It’s admitting that you can’t do it on your own. You need God’s help. That’s humility. The arrogant are unwilling to admit their need for Christ. They pretend they are the center of their own universe. But Jesus says, “God blesses those who realize their need for Him.” Humility is learning to depend on God every second or every day.

The number one cause of stress is trying to control the uncontrollable. Trying to control things that you can’t control gets you stressed out. It gets you worried. The truth is, most of your life is out of your control. You can control your attitude. You can control your response. That’s about it. You can’t control other people. You can’t control your circumstances. You have no control over what’s going to happen next week, let alone the rest of your life. So you get stressed out.

The second great source of stress is a lack of trust in God. Whenever you don’t trust God, your stress goes up, your worry goes up, your anxiety goes up, and your peace of mind goes out the door. It just falls apart. So you’re depending on yourself instead of depending on God. Well, the antidote to stress is humility. Next week we’ll discover a simple process for overcoming the stress in your life.
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You can e-mail Pastor Steve Greene at sgreene@seymournaz.org.