Are you humble enough?
The reason why I ask that is because nowadays it's very hard to spot someone who is humble. They may have this image of wearing the correct dressing, saying the right words and just being polite and nice and just being generally the society's accepted way of humility. And this give us a very very skewed vision of what it is to be humble. What does that entail? Does humility mean wearing the right outfit? Does humility mean talking down on yourself? What does it mean to be humble and what's its benefit? Why should that benefit me? Why should I be humble when it seems as if the ones who get ahead and the most attention are those who are not humble at all? Of course, it seems as if everybody will love you if you are humble, right? You'll be loved. Nobody likes somebody who is braggadocious, who acts as if they are better than others. So what we do nowadays, we put on a mask of humility to always deflect any appreciative words or anything that signals our strengths. How are we able to discern in somebody's heart or somebody's motive if they're really humble? How do we know?
Now, this is young people, please calm down. And you know, in order for us to dissect the topic of are you humble enough, we're gonna go through historical, contemporary, biblical and personal examples in order to properly dissect this topic of are you humble enough?
Historically

Mary Slessor (1848 - 1915)
Mary Slessor was a woman who was born in Aberdeen and she was a Scottish woman. And in her life, she, through the inspiration of David Livingstone, who lives in Blantyre, not too far from Glasgow, she decided that she wanted to become a missionary inspired by his life.

David Livingstone (1813 - 1873)
And it was after his death, it was all over the news that this great man, this great missionary who had checked out a waterfall in Africa and decided to call it Victoria Falls in honour of the Queen at the time, the Queen of Britain at the time. This great man had done such great exploits and he had inspired so many people and Mary Slessor through the church. And Mary Slessor really had a hard life in her family and she came from a poor background, but she really believed God was calling her to missionary work. So at the age of 27, she made her way to Africa, the West of Africa, and was stationed in the area of Calabar. And at first she was scared because the people in that area, they were into witchcraft, they were killing babies, twins, they were very brutal in the dealing with other people. There was a lot of tribal wars. And because of that, of course, fear will strike anybody who's placed in such a barbaric and scary environment. Now this is not to say that Africa is a barbaric place, but the people she met at the time were people who were clearly into customs and rules that were against what we would now call human rights. So Mary Slessor, in fear, decided that she would pray. And at first she was afraid, but she gave it to God. She prayed that the Lord, although she's afraid in this place, that the Lord to guide and direct her. That's humility. Why would I say that's humility?
Well, let's go on to contemporary.
In the contemporary world today, just putting on the aura or the expression of humility is enough. We don't need to submit to any God. If you see nowadays, many people are falling away from God himself and anything to do with Jesus Christ or the Bible is shunned. And a humility based on talking down on yourself, or for example, saying that I am not good at something, even though in my heart, I believe I'm the best, is now seen as humility. So there's a self-righteous spirit in the world where instead of one submitting to God and allowing him to direct our steps, allowing him to be the one to call the shots in our life, to pretty much become a follower of Jesus is seen as archaic, as silly, and something that stops one from enjoying life. And in the contemporary world today, humility is skewed where you don't need to submit to anyone or anything. We should have our own ideologies, our own spiritualities, and to just live life the way we feel. Biblically, the Bible speaks of the difference between humility and self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is shown in the world nowadays. We don't need God. And even if we may appear and say God's name, but in our hearts, we are really glorifying ourselves. Whereas Jesus shows a perfect example of humility.
Biblically
In Luke chapter 18, verse 9 to 14, it says, "And he spake this Bible unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, was smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
Personal Examples
I relate to this story so much because it reminds me of me having a dream that God had called me into working with young people. And when God called me into that, for a lot of time, I was doing my business, you know, doing my business with Afroscot, and I was doing really well in Afroscot, establishing its name. But when I wanted to get into the work world, and in order for me to establish myself in any ministry, I wanted to actually get into the work world. But each time I would apply for a job in the field of working with young people, I always failed. I always would get an interview, never ever get the job. I always get unsuccessful over and over again. And in fact, to the point where I didn't have a job at all, and I had to start working at McDonald's. And when I was working at this McDonald's place, what happened was that God was putting me through a test, was showing me if I was faithful with little, had to be brought low. And I started also doing it for free, like this podcast, doing it in the church, and showing myself how I can be strong in the Lord, and showing God that I was willing to go for the training. And that training was in order to humble me, in order to show myself as somebody who was willing and ready to take on such a position as taking care of God's young people. And when the opportunity came for me to start that calling, God made it happen. But you see, I had to go through that whole process. And that process wasn't easy. You know, that process was hard. But you know, the easy thing at that time was to say to God, why is this happening? And why are things not coming to pass? And God always, always puts us to that level, allows us to go to that point of giving up because He wants us to understand that it had nothing to do with our ability. That it's by His mercy, it's by His grace that we will ever achieve anything. And that it's only by His mercy and grace that I'll be able to fulfill His calling by the measure of faith He has given to me. That's why in James chapter 4, verse 6, it says, "Submit yourself to God."
It's very important that we submit ourselves to God in this day and age. We're in a world of confusion, a world where everything's haphazard. We don't know what's going to happen. Today is a good day. Tomorrow is a bad day. We can never experience just total joy every day without God. That's why I urge you, I urge you, you know, tomorrow is never guaranteed. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. The Bible says that we don't know. Solomon said it. Proverbs 27 verse 1: "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth."
So how much more somebody who is running away from God, wanting to be righteous without Him, wanting to just have the appearance of humility but not submitting himself unto the God to give Him the mercy and to wash away his sins. That's why I say to you today, if you want to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, it'd be the greatest decision of your life. It'll be a decision that'll make your life better spiritually, physically, mentally. You have the peace and joy that only Jesus can bring. You know where you fit in this world. You know your place. You won't be jumping from one place to another never really knowing where you are going. And I know that Jesus can transform us. He can build our character to be loving people, to be humble people, to be somebody who is willing to put others before themselves, to be somebody who can put their life on the line for Jesus. And if you want that to happen in your life, say this prayer with me:
Lord Jesus, I come to you as a sinner and I humbly repent for my sins. I believe that Jesus Christ died and raised on the third day. Thank you Jesus for washing me with your precious blood. I repent of my sins. I repent of my sins and I want to become a member of your family, of your body, the church.
You can always go back and replay it in order to really say it again, say it again, say it again. As faith comes and wells up within you, you see that transformation will take place and the angels are rejoicing. Luke 15 verse 10: “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
This is Young People Please Calm Down. I'm Michael Uzor. I'm really thankful that you read this article all the way to the end. Let me know what you think about this article and I'll see you in the next one.
YOUNG PEOPLE PLEASE CALM DOWN
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Well written enjoyed this!