Being humbled (the passive voice is how Scripture puts it in 1 Peter 5:6 and James 4:6) – is painful to experience, and a pleasure to complete. Here is an incomplete list of the kinds of things the mighty hand of God may use to humble us, or the humbling actions He may call us to complete.
1. Be exposed to God’s holiness.
2. Be exposed to God’s grace.
3. See your identity as inseparable to Christ’s.
4. Admit quickly when you’re wrong.
5. Accept correction without explanation or justification.
6. Ask for forgiveness.
7. Listen fully without interrupting.
8. Praise other people.
9. Welcome the successes and glories of others.
10. Stop trying to appear modest and humble.
11. Hide or anonymise your achievements.
12. Choose obscurity over fame or notoriety.
13. Refuse to compare or look for comparisons.
14. Do not fish for compliments or praise.
15. Look for the truth in your enemy’s slander of you.
16. Receive interruptions and disruptions of your schedule as God-given.
17. Accept being forgotten, undervalued, ignored or unthanked as God’s hand.
18. Ask what rights you have that you are voluntarily relinquishing for Christ.
19. Pray for those you envy, and for those that annoy you.
20. Frequently give thanks.
21. Do not diminish or disparage others.
22. Ask for help and advice from others.
23. Choose acts of service beneath your station.
24. Spend time with and counsel the simple, the difficult, and the quirky.
25. Examine your own heart for sin – especially sins of omission.
26. Ask for honest critique of your faults.
27. Give way in non-essential disagreements.
28. Call on God often for small acts of dependence.
29. Be in wonder at the quiddity of things.
30. Be diligent at your tasks.
31. Don’t aim to be famous for your humility.
Totally convicting !!! Thanks
I see myself in many of these areas I have to submit to! I appreciate you Brother! I too will be sharing this.
David,
Wonderful! Convicting! Painful!
I will be linking many to this. Thank you!
Dale