July 31, 2022 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John

Humility is Hard to Find

America has an overabundance of pride and very little humility. Pride is everywhere in Americans today, too much pride. You can be poor or rich, powerful or weak, beautiful or plain—it does not matter who one is or what your ethical makeup is—pride is in everyone.

What is truly sad is that humility is found only in a very small number of its citizens. What we have is an overabundance of pride which is on display in so many people of all ages and cultural lifestyles. This pride is demonstrated in the statements, ‘it’s my right’ or ‘I deserve it’ or ‘I’m first because I am unique’ and the list goes on indefinitely.

I only know of two individuals that are truly humble, and I am not one of them. Humility is not one of my personal strengths. In fact, I do not think of myself to be humble; it is a quality that I find very difficult to manifest in my life. I want less pride and more humility, but Satan is continually working against me for he knows once I truly humble myself ‘all things become possible for me’ because faith, wisdom, peace, and righteousness work from humility.

Most of us were taught to assert ourselves in order to get one’s way or wants. We think we should be first in line while shopping in stores, to being first for any government handout. We even take pride in being religious or in which church we attend. “We are important and deserve to be respected” is what we are taught in our local schools, social media outlets, and political institutions. However, the opposite is true. We are unworthy though loved by God, we have no rights above anyone else, and we are never better than anyone else.

Take Jesus as our example of humility. He did not consider Himself good, never considered Himself better than anyone else, and never ever defended His position or believed His calling or religious stature made Him more important than others—He was a servant first and always. He never forced Himself on others and allowed others to make up their own minds about Him.

He never tempted God or considered Himself important for God (His Father) to give Him what He needed or to free him from any evil coming His way. He humbled Himself not because He was the Son of God but because He was a ‘man of flesh’ just like you and me.

The Bible uses the words meekness, wisdom, purity, and righteousness to explain true humility and has this to say about humility in the Book of James 3:13-18: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

Jesus would never want His picture to be taken or have a social media account, and He would never want a statue or building erected in His honor. He did not care about His popularity and would never allow people to honor Him above anyone else at any gathering. He was humble and I am sure faith, wisdom, and righteousness can only grow and work in our lives because we are humble.

Oh, is that why your prayers are not answered, no humility? How about your lifestyle never changing, your sin remains in you, no humility? Do you feel like God is far from you and does not love you, no humility? Do you have trouble believing, have little faith, or are always getting beat up by Satan? This is not a problem of not having enough faith, but rather, not having enough humility!

All three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness after He fasted for 40 days, are about humility. All three answers of Jesus to Satan were embedded in the character trait and wisdom of humility. Church, if you are struggling in any aspect of your life, calling, or your love for God, look at your humility or the lack of and absence of humility. One cannot get to heaven without it—HUMILITY!

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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