Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.  Matthew 23:12 HCSB

Humility is the opposite of pride. God expects us to be humble. There are many verses that instruct us to be humble or to walk in humility. 1 Peter 5:6 tells us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt us. Philippians 2:3 tells us that we are to do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than ourselves. James 4:6 tells us that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. James 4:10 tells us that we must humble ourselves before the Lord, He will exalt us. In Micah 6:8 we are told that the Lord requires us to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.

Why is humility so important? Well, without it we have pride. And we know that God hates pride (Proverbs 16:18). When we are prideful we are more apt to argue and fight with others. We are more apt to demand that things go our way. When we consider ourselves above others, we are less likely to love them with the love of Christ. We must remember that while we were still miserable rotten sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). What if Jesus had decided not to suffer a horrible, humiliating death on that cross to save you and me. We would be doomed. Philippians 2:8 tells us that Jesus humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death-even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted Him.

Pride can cause us to have a sense of entitlement. We may feel that others owe us. When this happens, we may be offended if people don’t do what we want them to do.

In our scripture passage, Jesus clearly tells us that if we humble ourselves we will be exalted. On the flip side of that, He tells us that if we exalt ourselves, we will be humbled. So, in plain English, if you walk around thinking you are all that and a bag of chips, God will bring you down to size. Our pastor often tells us to remember to put Jesus first, others second and yourself last, the acronym for joy. When we do this, we are exercising humility. This is how we are to live our lives as Christians.

I spent many years of my life trying to lift myself up. I spent years trying to gain a higher position in my career and then even tried a new career. I did all this to realize that I was right where God wanted me to be. He had work for me to do there. Once I got busy doing the work He wanted me to do there, after a couple years He swept me up and out of there into a much better job until I retired. God had it all planned out. The problem was I was trying to do all the work to make myself better and put myself in a better position. Once I started doing God’s work right where I was, He did all the work needed to get me out of there at just the right time and into just the right place.

Pride causes us to worry. I spent many years worrying about whether or not I would ever get out of that job and into a better position. But, Matthew 6:33 tells us that we should only concern ourselves with seeking the kingdom of God. We are told to first seek the kingdom of God and all these other things will be added to you. I can testify that God’s word holds true. When we get busy handling God’s business, He will take good care of our business.

If you are all puffed up in pride about what you have accomplished, remember you did nothing without His help. We take our next breath because He allows it. If you are wondering why all your accomplishments have not gotten you where you want to be ask, yourself if you are focusing on Him or yourself? Are you busy doing the work He has called you to do? Or, are you too busy doing what you think will lift you up?

Living our lives in Christ means that we put Him first in all we do. It means we consider others more important than ourselves. It means we give ourselves last place on our priority list. When we do this, God lifts us up at the proper time. We are not supposed to receive the glory, that is meant for God. To God be the glory (Philippians 4:20).

Humble yourself and bring glory and honor and praise to God in all you do and He will take good care of you.

Have a great day!