True Humility

Proverbs 27:2 says "Let another man praise you and not your own mouth; A stranger and not your own lips." As I read this verse and ponder its meaning, I realized that many times people are praising themselves because they don't feel worthy or they feel worthy based on what they do or know. Then there are those who don't praise themselves but put themselves down by feeling like they don't measure up. These people too don't feel worthy. They also don't feel worthy because they feel they don't do something or don't know something. The people who don't boast look at those who do with jealousy, contempt, envy and bitterness (even if they will not admit it). Those who boast go around having an inflated self image that they are better than others. Both sets of people do not realize that true humility is based on who we are in Christ not on what we do or what we know.

Psalm 100:3 says "Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people..." This verse tells us that it is about God. It is He who made us. We are His people. This helps the person who is always comparing self to others and feeling like they come up short. It helps the person who thinks they are better than others.

As I observed Proverbs 27:2, I saw that our lips and mouth are to praise others as gifts from God. We need to work at valuing others. The more we value others, the more freedom we will see to value ourselves for who we are in God's sight. True humility is not putting oneself down or denying God given gifts.

We learned in Church that it is "reverse pride" to feel like you don't measure up. You are actually the same as the prideful person (just another side of pride) to think of yourself more lowly than you should. These people struggle with comparing self to others. They feel they are not worthy or don't measure up. These feelings prevent people from becoming what God has for them. These feelings also cause jealousy, envy, bitterness and anger against others and who they are and what they have.  They end up having a critical spirit and think about self too much. The problem is they do not know worth in God's eyes and that all gifts are from God not self.  Saul ended up feeling jealous of David due to the people praising David. Saul's jealousy resulted in anger that then resulted in attempted murder of David. Saul failed to appreciate David's talents. It is important to take any jealousy to God and ask for help to appreciate others; talents while showing us how best to use our God given talents.

We are extremist people. We usually struggle with reverse pride or regular old pride. If we are not putting ourselves down, we end up praising ourselves and elevating our worth based on what we do or know rather than praising God and others.  We end up thinking we are better than others. We too can get a critical spirit because we think others are lazy or not doing a good enough job because we can do it better.  We too need to work on valuing others for who they are in God's sight.  Blessing others and thanking God for other people and their gifts helps to develop humility because we see we are dependent on God and others. We can not do everything by ourselves.  In James 3, we are told that we should not bless God and curse others as men have been made in similitude of God. We should be blessing others.  We are to encourage and build each other up in the Lord.

As I think about application steps, I see I tend to fall more in the regular old pride. God has been working on me over the last 8 years on this and I see that I am seeing His fruit of pride being rooted out of me and developing the proper image of Who He is, who I am and who other are.  God has gifted me with many good gifts and I praise Him for them. He has also gifted others and I am praising Him and others for these wonderful gifts and talents. I have to remember when others are jealous of what they see that I need to pray for them and share how God is the giver of every good gift. He gives us all gifts and talents so there is no need to compare.  I am also learning how to respond to praise from others. Many times the problem I am seeing is that others do praise me and my family. I don't need to do it. However, there are others who look on and get jealous because someone other than themselves are receiving the praise. The people who feel jealous end up saying hurtful things or acting distant or making faces. I am learning, however, to hug them and praise them for what God has given them. This requires thinking soberly and with absolute honesty. We don't want to praise them for what they know or what they do but because of true gifts God has given them and who He is in making them. I am learning to direct their attention to our Great God. It is not because of what I did or know that resulted in praise but because of who God is and what He has done.

My prayer continues to be that God increase and I decrease. I pray that I continue to have gratitude and sing praises to God for Who He is. I also have been reading a lot about blessing others and giving thanks for people.  I thank God that He is developing true humility in me and I am seeing His grace abound.
posted by a friend - Patty Birchard.