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Finding Faith: Humbled or humiliated?

Pastor Janis Heiser

Recently I was in a difficult situation. Going beyond the details, which I am sure if I shared them, your response would be “seriously?”

The details are not important. What is important is my response. I have to admit at first, I felt very humiliated and even a little angry. But these are flesh reactions. I had to stop and step back and even ask myself, “What would Jesus do?” I pondered, what is the opposite of humiliated… humbled and what does the Bible say?

My first action was to turn to dictinary.com for definitions, to be sure I truly understood these two words.

For humiliated, “embarrass, put down, made a fool of, snub” are a few meanings. Ok, I was feeling those things.

Humbled is a little more complicated. The dictionary defines humble as “degraded, insignificant, meek, not proud, modest.” There are a lot of different answers for humble.

My next search was what does the Bible say?

“Humble” is everywhere in the Bible. And one of the closest definitions that I already found, would relate is “not proud.” When I really thought about it, feeling humiliated actually is dealing with pride. It creates the feeling of “how dare they treat me this way?” or “I deserve better than this.” Ouch! I was convicted. Pride is nasty. It is the reason Lucifer rebelled against God, that Adam and Eve chose to eat the forbidden fruit.

Pride leads us to think we know better than God.

The best place to start when looking for answers is Jesus.

We read about the humility of Jesus in Philippians 2:6-8. We are to have the same mindset as Jesus, “who, being very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross.”

In other words, Jesus put the Father’s will and plan above all, He had a servant heart towards others, no matter what they did or said and without regard of what would happen to Himself. This is why Jesus could say from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34

Moses is a great example of humility. He is called the humblest man in the Bible.

Numbers 12:3 “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.”

The Israelites, even his brother and sister grumbled and complained about his leadership. Moses did not quit nor fight them. Instead, he fell before God, interceded and prayed for them. A sincerely humble person does not think they are better than others. Instead, a humble person serves others and encourages them to be their best.

A faithful humble person puts God first, and needs others next. Is this easy for us to do? Of course not. Our flesh fights humility in any way it can. The enemy throws out any stumbling block he can use to trip us up. 1 Peter 5:5 tells us to “…Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humbleness is a choice. Just as we choose each morning what to wear for the day, we choose to be humble instead of proud.

The interesting thing is as I stepped back and searched the scriptures, seeking God’s truth, the feeling of being humiliated not only seemed not important, it disappeared. I was able to follow Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Andrew Murray, a South African pastor and missionary, wrote an amazing book on humility in 1895, “Humility: The Beauty of Holiness.”

I have read that each believer should read this book once a year, to help remind us of our need to be humble because it strengthens our faith and brings us closer to God. Pride separates us from God and each other.

So how can we put on humbleness and turn from humiliation?

1. Put your attention on Jesus. A familiar saying defines a humble person as one who focuses “not on who they are but on whose they are.” And who are we in Christ? “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Ephesians 1:7 and “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10.

2. Get in the Word. “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

3. Pray! “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things which you have not known.” Jeremiah 33:3 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

4. Let go of self and ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with more of Jesus. There is an interesting thing about humbleness. As soon as someone says, “I am a humble person” they have already added pride by exalting themselves. A humble person is centered on God. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30.

5. Lift up others. “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11. I often quote the following acronym of the word JOY — Jesus, Others, You. It helps to keep a proper perspective of who and what is most important.

I would like to close with scripture that always helps me to put things in a worthy mindset: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Living out these verses can take a lifetime. Yes, it does say to give thanks in all circumstances! This is most appropriate with Thanksgiving in a few days.

Giving thanks to God in all situations definitely chases away feelings of humiliation and pride and keeps us with a humble heart and attitude. Try it! It works!

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Finding Faith is written by area pastors. This week’s column comes from Pastor Janis Heiser who pastors a Home Church online and in Lock Haven.

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