Church Words: humility

hu•mil•i•ty
–noun
the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc.
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[Origin: 1275–1325; ME humilite < L humilitās. See HUMBLE, -TY2 ]

—Synonyms lowliness, meekness, submissiveness.
—Antonyms pride.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

• Humility is a tough concept to strive for. I mean, who wants to seek “meekness” as a goal? But, since our faith is often so “upside down” (to quote musician Derek Webb), it is exactly what God tells us to strive for. Matthew 5:5.
• If you search “humble” in the NIV, you get 71 hits… “humility” gets you 15 more. I know that some things may be “lost in translation”, but it is pretty clear that humility is a theme in scripture, but one we tend to not value. Why? Because we seek power. Notice the “antonym” to humility in that definition above? PRIDE.
• Some scriptures to read and ponder: Proverbs 3:34; Matt. 18:3-5; Eph. 4:2; James 4:6, 10
• Two tough example of Jesus’ call to humble attitudes are found in Matt. 5. First, Matt. 5:38-40. You know, “turn the other cheek”. Problem is, our “gut instinct” is to get revenge. I see it all the time, even in this group. You know, “he/she did/said it to me first!”. We feel entitled. I think there is a difference in defending oneself…and revenge. But even this seems to indicate we should seek to “kill with kindness.” Think about it: if you just totally slammed someone, and in stead of fighting back, they did/said something nice, how would you respond? Second, look at Matt. 5:43-45. “Love your enemies…pray for those who persecute you…” Ouch. “Gee God, can I get out of that one?”
• Bottom line is that we just don’t do well with this…being humble is almost just seen as a “nice trait” if that adjective is used to describe you…but it almost seems equated with “pushover” or “weak”. So, what is up God’s sleeve in wanting us to be humble?

Things to Ponder:
• If you were a great, skilled general or leader, how would you act toward “underlings”?
• What are reasons to not be humble?
• Do any of you have a personal example of a time you didn’t fight back…and it actually made the situation better for you?
• Why do you think Jesus wants us to be humble…turning the other cheek…loving enemies?
• How would things be different if we loved and prayed for our enemies…really? Instead of hating them, wanting/getting revenge, etc.?