RCC Weekly Update 4/20/23

And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 1 Peter 5:5b-6

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that after 30 years of being a Christian, I still face a battle raging within me between humility and pride. Can you relate to this battle? I understand Biblical theology: God hates pride and honors humility. But every day I wake up and face a test… “Will I exalt or humble myself?” I know what I’m supposed to do. I know what I have written and shared in sermons to do. I know what I tell my kids to do. But my anxious heart and insecure soul “leaps” at opportunities to be recognized, to be “great” the world’s way. Just this week, I failed several greatness tests:

• In a conversation at church, a friend told a funny story, but I “topped” that friend with a funnier story. Failed.
• Then I walked by some garbage in our church parking lot that needed to be picked up, but I didn’t feel like playing church janitor. Failed.
• Then I scoffed at having to do a chore Heather asked me to do. I lacked humility and grumbled as I did it. Failed.

I had the opportunity to be humble and I blew it. But you know what this tells me. This tells me that humility is a process. Humility can be achieved. The choice is ours. We can either exalt or humble ourselves. Jesus said in Matthew 20 (my paraphrased version), “You want to be great? You forget what the world says about greatness. You want to be great, you serve. You humble yourself. You want to be first, put yourself last. You want to be the best, be the least.” You want to be a great, develop an attitude of humility. When we have an attitude of humility, under the mighty power of God, at the right time he will lift you up in honor!

In His grip,

Jake