Humility Over Pride

 By: Grace Metzger

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility
count others more significant than yourselves.
Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Humility is an amazing characteristic that I don’t think people strive for much anymore. In Christianity it’s incredibly important thing that God calls us to work towards. In fact, in Proverbs 16:18 God even talks about the destruction that not having humility can cause, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

But why is humility so important and pride so awful? The negativity of pride has kept me up for the last few nights. Is it wrong to be proud of my accomplishments, growth, or life? To be honest, the more I read on pride the more confused I got. The world says to be proud of yourself but the Bible talks about pride causing destruction in your life. I ended up taking a different path and started to try to figure what pride and humility truly meant to God.

The reward for humility and fear of the
 Lord is riches and honor and life.
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭22‬:‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The more I read about humility the more I noticed how humility was shown in favor to God, how He calls us to seek humility. I realized that humility was more than the world’s definition, it was more than “a modest or low view of one’s self.” But rather an acknowledgment of your own limitations and your imperfections, being humble is about knowing that without God we have nothing. 

One’s pride will bring him low, but he
who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭29‬:‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

While pride is about taking glory in your actions without acknowledging that it was God’s doing, it’s also about taking all of the glory that was meant for God. Now if you’re like me you probably instantly thought “well I don’t take God’s glory so this isn’t about me.” But when was the last time you thanked God for your skills, when was the last time you choose to show God’s greatness instead of bragging on your own skills? I think pride is something that every single person deals with but due to our pride and belief that we are better then everyone else we are unable to see our own prideful nature.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of
God so that at the proper time He may exalt you.
1 Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Pride is easy but humility is a difficult characteristic. Yet God is wanting us to humble ourselves so He can exalt us, He wants to bless us but first we need to acknowledge that we owe everything we have and everything we are to Him. Humility is not going to be an easy thing, but seek it daily! Spend time thanking God for all the things He’s done in your life, spend time giving glory to Him for his greatness. I challenge you this week to spend the first 5 minutes of your prayer thanking God and giving Him the glory that He deserves! Trust me you will notice a difference in your life!

Discussion Questions!
1.) How do you seek humility?
2.) What do you do when pride starts taking over your life?