Tim Speer's Blog - Posts Tagged "humility"
Pride and Humility
Pride and humility are two opposite forces that most of us are confronted with on a daily basis. Humility is, or should be one of our ultimate goals. It is through humility that we are able to submit ourselves to God's will. We are able to realize that what we have comes from God, not from ourselves. We learn to put the needs of others before ourselves. All of these things require humility.
Pride is what keeps us from submitting to God's will, and in turn receiving the fullness of his love. Pride tells us that we are more important than others. It tells us that what we have is all due to our own efforts. We start to put ourselves first, and God and others last. It leads us to be selfish and self centered. Pride leads to arrogance and, although we may not realize it, pride often makes us extremely foolish.
How foolish can we become. Just look at the example of Satan. He let pride take over, and lost his eternal salvation. He lost all that he had. How foolish can it make one look? Satan didn't stop there. He tried to "temp" Jesus in the desert, in the end offering him all the kingdoms of the world. Hello, news flash Satan, Jesus already was king of all the world. It is here that Jesus finally has enough of Satan's foolishness and tells him to leave. Was Jesus really "tempted" by Satan's offers? I really don't think so. I believe the biggest temptation Jesus had to overcome was the temptation to laugh at Satan in front of his face.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have Jesus as the ultimate example of humility. Jesus had the humility to lower himself to our level and become man, and even to serve man. Ultimately, he had the humility to be sacrificed, and even ridiculed, at human hands for our sake. And yes, he even had the humility not to laugh in Satan's face.
Pride is what keeps us from submitting to God's will, and in turn receiving the fullness of his love. Pride tells us that we are more important than others. It tells us that what we have is all due to our own efforts. We start to put ourselves first, and God and others last. It leads us to be selfish and self centered. Pride leads to arrogance and, although we may not realize it, pride often makes us extremely foolish.
How foolish can we become. Just look at the example of Satan. He let pride take over, and lost his eternal salvation. He lost all that he had. How foolish can it make one look? Satan didn't stop there. He tried to "temp" Jesus in the desert, in the end offering him all the kingdoms of the world. Hello, news flash Satan, Jesus already was king of all the world. It is here that Jesus finally has enough of Satan's foolishness and tells him to leave. Was Jesus really "tempted" by Satan's offers? I really don't think so. I believe the biggest temptation Jesus had to overcome was the temptation to laugh at Satan in front of his face.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have Jesus as the ultimate example of humility. Jesus had the humility to lower himself to our level and become man, and even to serve man. Ultimately, he had the humility to be sacrificed, and even ridiculed, at human hands for our sake. And yes, he even had the humility not to laugh in Satan's face.
