Humility and Pride

“Therefore be humbled under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your anxiety onto Him, for He cares for you.” (1Peter 5:6-7)

Our Scripture of study begins with the word, therefore. There is a reason for verse six and seven. It can be found in verse five. “... God resists proud ones, but He gives grace to the humble,” “...therefore be humbled under the mighty hand of God...” The word resists means to oppose. Failure to humble oneself and continuing to be proud, which means noticeable, dramatic, bold, glitzy, swanky, pretentious, flamboyant, extravagant or flashy is to have God oppose them. The sinner sins and knows that God doesn’t like their actions. But to actually know that God is against one is more serious and even the sinner who believes in God but hasn’t received Jesus would fear.

Peter exhorts the brethren to humble themselves. There are benefits to humbling oneself. But first how can we humble ourselves? One way is to recognize who we really are or were, a sinner who was not worthy of God’s grace.  Although saved, the flesh is still unregenerated and with us fighting the spirit man into sinning.  And we do fall into sin. Therefore, recognizing and confessing sin is recognizing God’s goodness and mercy. There is the example of the Pharisee and the tax collector who are praying. The tax collector recognizes he is a sinner before God and asks for mercy. The Pharisee on the other hand who thinks highly of himself and his good works, thanks God he’s not like others. (Luke 18: 9-14) It may be easy for us to humble ourselves before God, but it might be more difficult for us to have true humility and to humble ourselves to others, admit our weaknesses and have others pray for us. James writes that fervency in prayer comes when there are no barriers of pride with the brethren. (James 5:16)

When someone wrongs us, we are quick to want justice. We react in the flesh, but Peter exhorts us to suffer for the sake of righteousness. The love of God will compel us to love others regardless of their wrong treatment of us. It will restrain us from reacting with cursing, but blessing. “And finally, all be of one mind, having compassion on one another, loving the brothers, tenderhearted, friendly. Never give back evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, giving blessing, knowing that you are called to this so that you might inherit blessing.” (1Peter 3:8-9)

How about when someone corrects us? Do we accept that correction graciously and welcome it as coming from the Lord, even if it’s from someone we feel errs continually? If God can speak through a donkey, surely, he can speak from even a sinner to correct us. (Numbers 22:1-35) Look for what God is trying to say to us. If it’s not truth, it may be the perception to others that may need to be changed. “He who keeps instruction is in the way of life; but he who refuses reproof goes astray.” (Proverbs 10:17)

Billy Graham on his lesson on humility wrote, “Accept and look for the lowly place; it is the place of humility.” Don’t look for the place of honor and risk being humiliated when you’re asked to make way for another." (Luke 14:7-11) If God wants to honor you, He will regardless of where you are serving. “Do not put yourself forth in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of the great; for it is better that it should be said to you, Come up here, than that you should be put lower in the presence of a noble whom your eyes have seen.” (Proverbs 25:6-7)

Serving others is another way to humble ourselves, but only if it costs us something and doesn’t serve ourselves. If it’s not an inconvenience, not taking our “precious time” or costing us something that we value, it’s not a sacrifice and not really serving. Jesus places importance in serving. “And whoever desires to be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:27-28) The Lord doesn’t expect us to die literally for another, but to die in our pride, our desires, our dreams and aspirations in serving another. And He will give you honor, His desires, His dreams and His aspirations.

Being quick to forgive is also humbling. It’s denying ourselves the acknowledgement that we’ve been wronged. How can we not forgive, when we’ve been forgiven much.  If when you’ve been wronged you go to the Lord and pray about how much He’s forgiven, the wrong against you will fade away. “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender feelings of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving yourselves, if anyone has a complaint against any. As Christ forgave you, so also you do.” (Colossians 3:12-13)

Having a grateful heart for what the Lord has done and keeping that in mind will dissolve any pride in our hearts about who we are. We cannot exalt ourselves before God nor man when we were nothing, but sinners headed for destruction if not for God’s mercy and love. It’s good to remember where we came from to understand how good God is to us and remove any pride we have in ourselves, not to dwell on it, but to rejoice in the Lord’s greatness.

Lastly, I must give credit where credit is due. Some of these points were taken from Billy Graham’s lesson on humility. We learn that pride is something that God hates so we must make every effort to eliminate any hint of pride in our lives. We have nothing to be prideful about. God loves humility. And we should seek to be humble. “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1Thessalonians 5:18) We may not like what is happening in our lives, but we can give thanks for God’s presence in us through everything.