Ask Mr Bible

Imagine the following situation:  You are in a church service listening to a sermon on the sin of pride.  Soon the Holy Spirit convicts you regarding this very failure in your own life.  Sitting there you inwardly confess this sin and determine to remedy it.  But just how does one go about this?  Are there certain steps to take in becoming humble?

Will you be like the man who wrote a book entitled, Humility and How I Attained It, which included a dozen pictures of the author with the final chapter boasting on how proud he now was of his humility?!

Actually, the antithesis of pride is not humility, but rather that of thanksgiving.  This is simply to say a thankful person is automatically a humble person.  Suppose a total stranger sees you in a shopping area carrying a large bundle of packages, attempting to open a door.  He quickly runs over, picks up the packages you have dropped, and opens the door for you.  Of course you thank him for this.  Why?  Well, because he was performing an act of kindness that you did not deserve or expect.  In essence, you are saying, “I appreciate this so much.  We’ve never met and you were under no obligation whatsoever to do what you did!”

In fact, thanklessness was the single one sin that caused the ancient world to degenerate into both idolatry and immorality.  Note Paul’s sad commentary on this:

“. . . . since they knew God but did not honor Him as God, nor did they thank Him.  Instead, their thoughts became total nonsense, and their ignorant hearts were darkened.  While claiming to be wise, they became fools; they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortals, and of birds, and of four-footed animals, and of crawling creatures.  And so, as they followed the lusts of their hearts, God handed them over to live immorally by dishonoring their bodies with one another.  He did this because they traded the truth of God for this lie, namely, they worshiped and served what was created instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever.  Amen! 

That is why God gave them up to shameful lusts.  Their women have even exchanged natural relations for the unnatural.  And men likewise have given up the natural relations with a woman and burned with lust for one another, men doing shameful acts with men and suffering in themselves the punishment they deserve for their perversion”  (Rom. 1:21-27, New Evangelical Translation). 

The following perhaps says it best:

·         Be Careful (Anxious) for NOTHING!

·       Be Prayerful for EVERYTHING!

·         Be Thankful for ANYTHING!