Can I have healthy self-esteem and still be humble?
April 8-12, 2024 | Always Peachy Devotionals | Humility Week 2
Christians talk about humility a lot, but do we really know what it means?
If we truly understood humility, I don’t think we would have the epidemic of self-worth and self-love gurus all over the internet. Too often, Christians knee jerk against cultural norms, and that’s not necessarily wrong. But what happens when we reject the individual along with the culture they’re trapped in?
Our culture is deeply confused about many things, but I think many of the choices the church made in past decades had a negative effect on how we communicate with people around us. And it’s not okay to shrug it off and say that we should have no fellowship with darkness.
We don’t have to have fellowship with the world to be able to communicate with it, and Jesus gave us the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) for that very reason. Jesus showed us a better way to live. He showed us how to have peace with God, and He gave us the authority to share that Way with those who are still of the world. But if we are so focused on their wickedness and their brokenness and how many things we disagree about, we’ll never even attempt to reach them.
It's ironic that the people Jesus had the most trouble with during His time on Earth were the religious elite—not the common people. Just saying.
So what is humility in actual practice? In my experience, most Christians treat it as a form of lowered self-worth or self-esteem. We don’t accept compliments, or if we do, we make excuses for why it’s okay for us to look the way we do or wear what we’re wearing (“I got it on sale”). Is that humility?
Does being humble mean you reject any kind thing someone says about you? Does being humble mean you call yourself a worm? If that’s the sort of life Jesus wants us to live, it’s no wonder we’re having trouble connecting with the people around us. It’s really hard to draw unbelievers in with God’s love and mercy when we call ourselves worms.
Personally I’ve found it’s impossible to show honest love to another person until I truly embrace how much God loves me. Once you understand God’s unfailing love for you in spite of your spiritual bankruptcy, that’s where humility and true self-esteem intersect.
But if we seek to live humble lives that God can bless, we must understand that our value to God doesn’t change with our choices or our attitudes. He loves us regardless. Humility is the way we see ourselves in relation to God. We can live with confidence knowing that our worth to God doesn’t change, but we should never forget that it was through no good deed of our own that we “earned” salvation.
So this week, we’re going to look at some examples of false humility out of Scripture. Let’s see if we can identify where these folks went wrong and adjust our own choices so we don’t have to make the same mistakes they did.
Apr 8 – Shifting the blame (when it’s your fault) (Genesis 3:11-12)
Apr 9 – Claiming to be humble (when you aren’t) (Matthew 23:27-28)
Apr 10 – Taking the credit (you don’t deserve) (2 Corinthians 10:18)
Apr 11 - Refusing compliments (out loud) (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Apr 12 – Saying you lack the ability (when you don’t) (Exodus 4:10)
Part of facing our own pride is the gift of honesty. Can we look at ourselves with open eyes and be truthful about our choices, our perspective, our mistakes? That’s what led me to Romans 12:3b as our memory verse for this week.
It’s important, I think, to see how God expects us to evaluate ourselves. It’s not by our financial status or our social standing or our looks or anything else like that. It’s by our faith. That’s how we’re supposed to evaluate ourselves.
So, how is your faith these days? It’s a challenging question, and it doesn’t require an answer here. But ask yourself. Because this is what matters to God. Frankly, this is all that matters to God.
Be honest with yourself, and be honest with God.
Hugs,
Amy
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