July 15th, 2023
by Dr. Ron Harvey
by Dr. Ron Harvey
This past Sunday we studied Jacob, the man who wrestled with God, and how he learned the valuable life lesson of humility. This is an important lesson for us all. However, as D.L. Moody once said: “There’s no lesson harder to learn than humility.”
In the days before electronic media, it was possible for public figures to escape recognition as they intermingled with the public. This helps explain an incident in the life of President Ulysses S. Grant who was walking one evening to a reception in his honor. The rain was pouring down and he offered to share his umbrella with a stranger who was on his way to the same reception. Unaware of the identity of the person with whom the man was walking, he told the president, “I have never seen Grant and I go to merely satisfy a personal curiosity. Between us, I have always thought that Grant was a very much overrated man.” Grant replied, “That’s my view also.”
The same such view should characterize the life of every Christian. Thinking less of ourselves and more of others is the essence of humility. True humility enhances humanity. Jesus said so when he said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” (Matthew 5:3). This was the first of the Beatitudes and it is the beginning of all right attitudes. In the Sermon on the Mount, it is humility which serves as the doorway to the other beatitudes. The blessed life that Jesus promises is the by-product of a life built with the character qualities identified in the Beatitudes. It all begins, however, with humility.
The enemy of humility is a spirit of pride. Pride makes us think more of ourselves than we should and more about ourselves than we should. It’s been said: Pride is like a prowler that attempts to rob us blind of the treasure which humility brings to our lives. So we must forever be vigilant against this shadowy figure which seeks to gain entrance and rob our hearts. Though pride may be hard to see, still it will always be consistent with this strategy. The Bible warns, “Pride puffs up” (Romans 11:20).
A man encountered a young girl at the State Fair with a huge mass of cotton candy on a paper cone. He asked, “How can a little girl like you eat all of that cotton candy?” She answered, “Well, you see, I’m really much bigger on the inside than I am on the outside.”
Pride leads us to believe we are bigger on the inside, but humility makes us greater on the inside. By God’s grace, let’s seek humility!
Devotedly yours,
Pastor Ron
In the days before electronic media, it was possible for public figures to escape recognition as they intermingled with the public. This helps explain an incident in the life of President Ulysses S. Grant who was walking one evening to a reception in his honor. The rain was pouring down and he offered to share his umbrella with a stranger who was on his way to the same reception. Unaware of the identity of the person with whom the man was walking, he told the president, “I have never seen Grant and I go to merely satisfy a personal curiosity. Between us, I have always thought that Grant was a very much overrated man.” Grant replied, “That’s my view also.”
The same such view should characterize the life of every Christian. Thinking less of ourselves and more of others is the essence of humility. True humility enhances humanity. Jesus said so when he said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” (Matthew 5:3). This was the first of the Beatitudes and it is the beginning of all right attitudes. In the Sermon on the Mount, it is humility which serves as the doorway to the other beatitudes. The blessed life that Jesus promises is the by-product of a life built with the character qualities identified in the Beatitudes. It all begins, however, with humility.
The enemy of humility is a spirit of pride. Pride makes us think more of ourselves than we should and more about ourselves than we should. It’s been said: Pride is like a prowler that attempts to rob us blind of the treasure which humility brings to our lives. So we must forever be vigilant against this shadowy figure which seeks to gain entrance and rob our hearts. Though pride may be hard to see, still it will always be consistent with this strategy. The Bible warns, “Pride puffs up” (Romans 11:20).
A man encountered a young girl at the State Fair with a huge mass of cotton candy on a paper cone. He asked, “How can a little girl like you eat all of that cotton candy?” She answered, “Well, you see, I’m really much bigger on the inside than I am on the outside.”
Pride leads us to believe we are bigger on the inside, but humility makes us greater on the inside. By God’s grace, let’s seek humility!
Devotedly yours,
Pastor Ron
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