“Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise.” – PROVERBS 13:10 (NLT)

As I conclude our series on vital signs of healthy Christians, I’d like to talk about pride and humility, because how the world defines these things are different than what God’s Word says.

When you think of someone being humble, what are some pictures in your mind that you think of?  Someone all bowed over?  Someone on their knees crying at the altar, “God, I’m not worthy!”?  The dictionary definition of humility is “A low self-regard and sense of unworthiness or a modest or low view of one’s own importance.”

The dictionary definition of the word “proud” is “Feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one’s own achievements, qualities, or possessions.  Having or showing a high or excessively-high opinion of one’s self or one’s importance.”

I think we need a different mindset about humility.  Having a sense of unworthiness with God is actually pride!  Let’s look at the Word and see…

“5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.  Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time…” – 1 PETER 5:5-6 (NKJV)

The Bible says to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.  People have taken that to mean that they’re to kneel down, cry out and proclaim their unworthiness.  But Jesus died to make us worthy!  Let me back up a moment…

In verse 5, we are told “younger people, submit yourselves to your elders” and then “all of you be submissive to one another.”  Anytime most people hear that word “submit” – especially as Americans – we don’t like that.  “I’m an American!  I’ve got my freedom and I can do what I want!”  The problem comes when we try to apply our American freedom to our submitting to our Lord and we apply the same rules we have on our government – that it can’t infringe on our lives – and we apply that to our Lord.

If Jesus is your Lord and He says, “go” you go.  He says, “do” and you do; He says “say something” and you say something.

If Jesus is Lord, we don’t have the attitude of “Well, I just don’t feel like it” or “I have rights so I don’t have to.”  No, according to 1 Peter 2:24, your rights have been given up because you’ve died to yourself.  Why try to resurrect something that is dead?

“Why try to resurrect something that is dead?”

Young people: Older people have lived a longer life and have had experiences that you haven’t had.  It’s good to glean information and revelation from them so that you don’t have to go through some of the nonsense they went through!  I’m totally fine with hearing how someone messed up so I don’t have to!  That’s pretty simple.

Older people: Some of you may say, “I have all this experience…I don’t need to listen to youth.”  But the good thing about young people is that they don’t know what they don’t know and they’re willing to try things.  Just because you tried something 20 years ago and it didn’t work doesn’t mean that the young person hasn’t found a new and successful way to do the same thing.

In both cases, we’re told to submit to one another!  Humble yourself and look at what the other person is saying.  Be willing to take their advice over your advice; be open to take their example over your conception and thoughts.

Note: It’s not our duty to “help” people be humble.  That’s not humility or helpful…that’s humiliation.  See, humbling yourself is a voluntary action; humiliation is when somebody imposes something on you.  Choosing to be submitted to someone is putting yourself in a position of humility.  It’s a choice.  1 Peter 5 says to be clothed with humility.

Pride and Humility Not Opposite Ends of a Stick

People think pride and humility are on opposite ends of a stick.  With pride, you think of arrogance and someone thinking they’re better than everyone else.  Humble people are seen as really low and thinking they’re not good at anything and that everyone else is better than them.  But honestly, pride is self-centeredness and it’s found on both ends of the stick.

Sure, when you think you’re better than everyone else and the world revolves around you, that’s pride.  But what is it when you live your life saying, “I just don’t want to put myself out there or give my opinion or say something”?  Why don’t you want to do those things?  “Well, people might think I’m wrong!”  Again, it’s all about you…it’s self-centeredness.  You’re concerned that you’re going to be seen differently…”What are they going to think of me?”  That’s pride, not humility.

Being clothed with humility is not going around with a low self-regard and a sense of unworthiness.  See, if you don’t look like Jesus, then you’re looking at the wrong person.  Your emotions and mind may not feel comfortable saying that, but your spirit does!  If you’re born again, the spirit in you is just like Jesus.

If you have an attitude that you can’t talk with people about Jesus because you’re not good enough or haven’t studied long enough, that’s still pride because it’s still self-centered.  Be clothed with humility!

Humility is something you make a choice to put on.  Choose to submit.

People have misconstrued what the word “submit” means.  The word actually means to “yield and adapt yourself to.”  So walking in humility is learning to yield yourself to another person’s preference and and adapt yourself to what’s happening.  You see that in good marriages, but that’s what it is with God also.  It’s telling God, “This is what I’ve wanted to do with my life” (whatever it is) “but now I hear what You’re telling me and I’m going to give up what I want and yield myself to Your desires because I trust that Your ways are better than my ways.”

“I’m going to yield and adapt to what You’re telling me so that I can live a life that is free from other things that are pulling on me.”

Thankfully, when other things try to pull us in different directions, Holy Spirit is within us, telling and showing us that it’s not of God, and we can make course corrections.  We don’t have to crawl and grovel and be humiliated and “humbled.”  All we have to do is thank God that He knew we were going to be pulled in wrong directions even before He saved us.

Even though we turn the wrong direction at times, Holy Spirit shows us the way to make the course correction.  When that happens, choose to change your course and go God’s way.  That’s really what being submitted is all about.

True submission is putting your desires down and living unto His desires.  The way up in God’s kingdom is down; before honor is humility.  But when we do humble ourselves, believing what God says about us, God will exalt us!

To watch the entire March 14, 2021 message on which this post is based, click here.