Humility

I really love writing this blog. No matter what topic I choose, it always ends up delivering a message to me! Today's topic is no exception. One thing that I've always taken pride in is my humility! (That's a joke, OK?) Out of the three categories of sin that are listed in 1 John 2: 15-16 "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world", the boastful pride of life is my greatest struggle. It always has been. If I didn't take the time to go back and edit my blog I could easily make it all about my recent swim in Lake Me. (You know, I don't want to talk about me, so why don't YOU talk about me!)

Today my wife and I had a few moments of "intense fellowship". For those of you that are married, you know what I mean. We spent a great deal of time propping up our position and building airtight arguments that would make Perry Mason salute. (For my younger readers, Perry Mason was a TV attorney from 1957 until 1966.) In the end we gained what? For a guy who considers himself to be a student of the Bible, I seem to forget pretty quickly Ephesians 5:28-29 "So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church."

I want to WIN because of the boastful pride of life. Pride is the opposite of humility and God has no tolerance for pride. James 4:6b “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” I don't know about you, but if the creator of the universe was opposed to me, I would be worried! I AM worried.

Our culture today loves pride and even celebrates it. Everything from gay pride parades to bumper stickers that tout pride as a virtue rather that what God calls it. Sin. Pride has moved from being the last of the seven deadly sins that many Christians embraced hundreds of years ago, to a trait that is to be admired. Pride has become the core of the Self-Esteem movement. It's really amazing if you think about it. If you were to ask the average person, no, I would go as far as to say that if you were to ask the average professing Christian, they would tell you that self-esteem is GOOD. This error has precipitated from a gross misunderstanding of Leviticus 19:18 and Leviticus 19:34 ". . .you shall love your neighbor as yourself . . ." This was such an important concept that it was quoted seven times in the New Testament. So why has this passage been used to justify the self-love, self-indulgence and self-absorption of the Self-Esteem movement? The assumption made by SE proponents is that we need to learn to love ourselves in order to love others. I have six children and I can tell you that from the first time that they entered into this world kicking and screaming, they loved one person intensely and it wasn't their mom! If my oldest son, Chase would have weighed 190 pounds and had the physical strength and coordination of an adult, instead of being a crying 9 pound baby, he would have been an axe murderer. From the time we are conceived, we are selfish and sinful, Psalm 51:5 "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me." When King David wrote these words, he was not referring to some sin that his mother was engaged in at the time of his conception. He was speaking of himself!

The modern view of babies, children and even adults is that they are basically "good" or if not good, then at worst they are a "blank slate" that is waiting to be written on. The Bible clearly teaches that there aren't any "good" people on the entire earth! Romans 3:10-12 "As it is written, 'There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.' " The basis for the sin of pride is an over-estimation of one's self and an under-estimation of God.

The results of the SE movement are far-reaching and staggering. First, it is a deceitful philosophy. A few years ago a study was done using teenagers from six industrialized countries. They were required to take a standardized math test and after the test they were asked to answer "Do you agree with this statement: 'I am good at mathematics'?" The Americans teens were ranked last in the math results, but were ranked first in positive responses to the "I'm good in math" question. Second, the SE philosophy is producing a generation of selfish, self-absorbed people, who are careening into eternity with the power of positive thinking as their only asset.

God was right when he inspired Paul to write to Timothy: 2 Timothy 3:1-5 "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. . ."

No one was ever saved by the act of praying some special prayer, or by walking an aisle, or by signing a card or making a pledge. (I am NOT saying that people that did those things are NOT saved!) God only accepts people with a humble and contrite heart. In Luke 18 Jesus told the story of the honored religious leader standing at the front of the synagogue saying, "God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get." At the back of the room stood the despised, traitorous tax collector. This man could not look up toward heaven and was beating on his breast. "God, be merciful to me, the sinner." Jesus stunned his audience with this statement: Luke 18:14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Not only has no one ever been saved who has not humbled himself before God, but no Christian has ever been blessed with the sweet fellowship of God who is not humble before him. Psalm 10:17 "O Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear." If your Christian life is wearisome, your prayers are not being answered and you are not feeling the vigor of the "abundant life" that is promised in scripture, fall down on your face tonight next to your bed and with a heart that matches your posture, beg Him for forgiveness and fellowship.

His servant,

D. L. Culiver