Cultivating a Humble Heart—A Word from Steve
Steve wrote to our staff every month for twenty years—sharing many things God was teaching him and working into his life. I will be sharing one of these regularly here on my Kindling Blog. I’m starting with the importance of having a humble heart. This is from 2014.
Some years ago I did a Bible study asking the question: “What is the attitude of heart that seems to please God the
most—in both the Old and New Testaments?”
The one attitude that was most frequently visible was a humble heart.
Sometimes it took a while for people to understand this idea, but eventually Moses, Job, Peter, Paul, and many others got the point.
Job: “Have you shown the dawn its place?”
In Job 32:1 it was observed of Job: “So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.” By the way, Job was a very upright person.
But, we are told in Job 38_1-18: “Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. He said, ‘Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?...who marked off its dimensions?...Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place?...Have you comprehended the vast expense of the earth?”
After hearing this, Job concluded: ”Surely I heard of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (Job 42:3) Job finally understood: Only God is great, and next to Him, Job occupied a very humble position.
“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
That kind of simple, profound humility needs to be our attitude as well. And it will affect most everything we think about and do. If some circumstance doesn’t go as we would like, the natural human tendency is to complain. Yet the truth is God is in control. So whatever comes our way has been filtered through God’s wisdom and love.
If I complain, I demonstrate I am questioning whether God really does have my best interest in mind. I am saying I know better than God what is good for me. I am being proud. In 1 Peter 5:5 we read, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” It is smarter and more fruitful to experience the grace of God rather than His opposition.
“…in humility consider others better than yourselves”
In addition to a humble heart toward God, we need to have a humble heart toward other people. Philippians 2:3-4 tells us, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only for your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
“Let’s do it your way…”
Applying this part of humility is harder because people are not all-wise and all-loving as God is. Nevertheless, we are instructed to give up “our right to get our way.”
A good example with Judy and me relates to the temperature of the house when we go to bed. Judy thinks 70 is very comfortable, but I feel cold at 70. It has been a fascinating process to watch us try to settle this issue with humble hearts. We each want the other to feel comfortable.
That’s a good Christian “argument”—“ each of us saying “Let’s do it your way.” We usually settle on 73 or 74. We usually got there through the reverse of a normal negotiation. And our relationship only deepens as we seek to serve each other.
Let me say that being humble doesn’t mean we can’t have opinions and express them. And it certainly doesn’t mean we don’t make clear what God’s Word says.
What having a humble heart does mean is that it is not all about us. We are part of something much bigger than our own agenda. And when people sense in us humility coupled with love, they know we have something more—something they will likely find very appealing.
As we live life with a humble heart, we will advance God’s kingdom wherever we go.
When have you chosen humility?
C Steve Douglass 2014