Aug. 26, 2009 - True Humility - Posted in Stuff God Has Taught Me

Why is it that when I have all the time in the world I don’t post? Why is it that I’ve sat around at the computer for the past week, been on HSB to post comments, and I still don’t post? *hits head against wall*

Well, I’ve decided that my posts on this blog are going to change a bit. See, I’ve always posted uber-long blog entries about trips and stuff like that, but I doubt many people like reading uber-long posts about stuff that happened to me (I know that I wouldn’t want to read it, at least not the whole thing!). So now I’m going to try something kinda new for me. I’m going to post shorter entries about things that are important to me, whether it’s about music, thoughts I’ve been having, or stuff that God has been teaching me. So, without further ado, here’s my first real post in months:

On Training Camp (the first rafting camp of the year, when we all train ourselves to be ready for the next three camps) we studied the book of 1st Timothy, because that particular book of the Bible has a ton of instructions and advise for being a leader (as we were going to be over the rest of the summer). In chapter 3 there is a list a requirements for leaders in the church, and one of them was humility. As I was reading through the chapter I wrote down all of the characteristics that I felt I needed to work on, and humility wasn’t one of them. See, I’ve always tried to be humble, and I felt like I’d been doing a pretty good job at it. But that night in Bible Study humility came up and my youth leader started talking about what "fake humility" looks like, and it sounded an awful lot like what I’d called humility in my life.

Something I really don’t like in people is arrogance, so I’d worked hard to be someone who didn’t seem arrogant in the slightest. So whenever I was complimented on something I’d done, I would say something like "Thanks, but it’s really not that great" or "I’m not the best…". But according to my youth leader, this was fake humility. Why? This seems pretty humble to me!

Well first, what are my motives for saying these things? I’m trying to appear humble, I’m saying these things so that people will think "She’s so humble!" Is that really a humble motive? Nope, not really. Second, Who give us all our talents? (yes, the "w" in "Who" is capitalized for a reason!) God did! God uses the gifts He gave us so that He can work through us! So when we use our talents and do well and then we say "It’s really not all that great", who are we belittling? God. We’re basically saying "No this isn’t great. God didn’t do very well when He gave me this gift" or "God isn’t working very well through me." So no, belittling what we’ve done isn’t true humility, nor is it pleasing to God!

So what is true humility? Again, Who gave us all our talents? God did! So who deserves the praise? He does! So when someone compliments you for something you’ve done, turn their eyes to the One who gave you your gifts! Now, am I perfect at this? No, not even close! But I’m working on it, and you can too!


~SeaChel

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