Humility

What does it mean to be humble? Is it enough to just say that I am not proud or arrogant? Personally I think that it is not enough. Being humble means so much more than to simply state or think that you are not proud or arrogant, isn't that arrogance in and of itself? Humility is not simply just a statement, rather it is a state of being. It is knowing the truth but at the same time know that that Truth is greater than even you and your knowledge. We are working through a series in studentLIFE that is called "Jesus is Greater Than..." Through this series we are showing and teaching the students about other worldly religions and cults and showing them why Jesus is better/greater than all of these. I know what you're thinking, that is far from humility. But, we are teaching them that Jesus is greater than ourselves/them and that while yes Jesus is greater than all things, we are to deliver this message with love. 1 Corinthians says that faith and hope and love are very important, but that the greatest of these is LOVE. Through all of these teachings we are portraying that humility comes through love, and though Jesus is greater than all of these worldly religions the best thing that we can do is to LOVE each other and LOVE the world and know that Jesus is greater than we are! That is what humility is. Having a reason for the hope that we have and sharing that through love and gentleness (1 Peter 3:15) is what we are called to do. Humility can be such a tough thing especially when pride is something that we are taught to have in everything that we do. So how do even begin to have humility? I'm glad you asked. Humility is not only gained through love, but it is gained through prayer! Prayer should be the basis of everything that we do and prayer should lead us to humility. The reason this is so is because to be in prayer is to fall down on your face in complete reverence of the Almighty God and to SURRENDER to Him. To be in prayer is to say, Lord I can't do it, I need you. Prayer leads you to humility. I once heard it described in this way: the gate into heaven is a short gate and those who stand tall cannot enter, only those who are face down can enter the gate. To be in prayer is to surrender all that you are and to admit that you cannot do anything without Christ, and that my friends is humility. Pray boldly, pray consistently, pray specifically. Are you ready to pray?