Brianna’s Training in Godliness: Humility, Week 4

I’ve been studying humility for a month now: thinking about it, learning about it, praying for it, growing in it. I don’t think I’ve even begun to scratch the surface of this deep, precious godly characteristic—I have the feeling that will be my experience with every godly quality I study each month—but I pray I have begun to embody it, at least a little.

It’s funny, when I began this year-long project in godliness, I really looked forward to the end of this month. I thought this would complete my first step filling up with godliness, but that hasn’t been the experience at all. Quite the opposite. I am empty. Silent. Still. Bowed low before my Creator. And God is tremendously larger, more magnificent, and holy than I have ever known Him to be before. Now, perhaps, I am ready to begin being filled.

I’m stepping into my second month, this time aiming to study godly contentment, but I’m not stepping out of humility. The characteristics of godliness are inextricably linked. I don’t imagine I could at all be truly content without first being genuinely humble. Therefore, I wonder: am I humble?

• Does humility pervade my attitude and all my thoughts or has that puppeteer of pride slunk back into the shadows of my soul?
• Do my actions reflect selflessness and love? How do I yet put myself first?
• Does my daily life demonstrate that I love God first and best and always?

I can’t wholly answer yes to any of these questions, but I have begun. And I will keep learning and fighting, gripping tight the sword of the Spirit and lifting high my shield of faith day in and day out (Ephesians 6:10-18).

What about you? Have you begun to walk this journey with me, seeking humility in your own life? Where have you seen pride lurking within your heart? How have you dug it out? If your fight has been a rough, uphill battle, be encouraged: God uses “oppression, calamity, and sorrow” (Ps.107:39) in our lives to humble us, then through our humility brings us deliverance and heavenly compassion (see 2 Ch.12:6,7,12; 33:12,13).

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:10).

Cross-posted on Brianna’s blog at Breadcrumbs and Butterflies.