Humility

There is not much that can quite tick me off as people who don't believe me...going as far as going to others to check and  see if I'm right. I'm being honest, okay? It is one of the biggest things that can truly anger me or make me instantly genuinely upset. Come on, people, it's rude. How would you like it if you state true information that you know to be a fact but people (or rather, a specific person) finds the need to always question it.

And not only just questioning it, but denying you could be possibly right. "There's no way that's true!" they say. So...are you saying there's no way that I could ever speak truth or be honest? It just boils down to trust and honesty. Now...if the person originally speaking is a well known liar and shows no interest in repenting from that, okay, maybe it would be a wise idea to question whether there is much validity behind their statements.

But that gives no good cause to always assume that you are 100%...always...always right. It's prideful. It's rude. How can you presume that you are always right and *everyone* is *always* wrong. How is that even remotely possible? Now, that's an extreme case. There are probably few (if any) who truly believe that they are consistently always right with no mess-ups. But it can come in many forms and in more subtle ways than that.

But really...if you're going to have a friend and be a friend...then you need to give and receive trust. Trust - to believe and take someone seriously. To give them a side of you that those outside of friendship don't get to see. It's another side of you. If I call you friend (and even if not) then I will, without a doubt, not just tell you something to make it seem like I'm right.

If we're arguing or discussing something I'm not going to make up false facts just so I can "win". First off, that's cheating. Second of all...that's lying! It's selfish, dishonest, and essentially prideful. Which then leads us to the issue of humility and how much a grain of that can get you when it comes to life...basically anything about life!

Humility...wow, I'm sure we've all run into people with some serious LACKING in humility. Those people are so puffed up with themselves that they refuse to see anyone else's good works. They are self-righteous...always thinking well of themselves, and when they know they're in the wrong they cannot stoop to apologize or admit their faults. They praise their virtues and ignore their faults.

There is not a single living being who does not need a bit of humility. I know firsthand that I am in sever need of it. Humility does not rank high on my list of virtues...if it's even on there! Who doesn't have difficulty in admitting their flaws...their shortcomings. But it's just needed! We're all humans...we all mess up...we all make mistakes. The best people know that and can find the humility to admit it and apologize for their faults when needed.

We have a God who knows that we mess up...we can't even hope to hide that from Him. He knows! You can't just expect to breeze over your sins (shortcomings) and pretend to be good. That is not the true Christian. The true Christian will come to the open house of mercy on his knees...mindful of the fact that we can do no good apart from Christ. All we do is like filthy rags to Him...until we see Christ and His greatest sacrifice for us on the cross.

That action, the sacrifice on the cross, it is a picture of the washing of our filthy rags so that once God comes to judge us He sees us as blameless...pure and holy. But we cannot pretend that it was anything that we did. It was, and always will be Christ. His work to us, it's what makes us look decent in the presence of our Father. We would always come up short if we tried to do it all on our own.

The moment we try to do it all on our own without any humility is the moment that we leave Christ behind us and seek to enter that room looking holy and pure on our own. That is the moment when we fail the worst we ever have in our life. Our best is mud...it's as filthy rags. It's once we bow the knee to Christ and look to Him for salvation that we are seen as righteous before our Judge.

So to wrap all of this up...humility goes a long way. It grants us 24/7 access to the throne of God. But humility also helps out with our earthly relationships. It can give us the ability to stand down and admit that maybe, our friends could be right. It empowers us with trust. We don't have to be always right! But if you are...stick to it.

The last thing we, as Christians, need these days are "nice Christians" who are willing to compromise the gospel of Christ for the sake of getting along! If someone denies Christ...then you can deny them...first try and seek to show the truth, but if their eyes are blinded and the Holy Spirit hasn't spoken to them yet, then move on! But don't ever seek to compromise the whole truth of God!

Speak truth boldly! Walk with confidence! Cover yourself with humility as Christ did! And always, live to the glory of our Father!