“The Great Need For Humility”
Ephesians 4:1-3 NIV
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
I am reminded so often each day how much not only that God wants me to learn humility, but also how much He wants me to share that with others. I am not a naturally patient person and that often ends me up becoming less and less humble many days. I think about how my lack of humility not only affects my growth in my relationship with God, but also in my relationship as I interact with friends, family and co-workers.
The world desperately not only needs to see us acting in humility in our lives each day as we go about our routines, but the world really needs to see humility lived out as we interact with one another in the church. In all my years of paid and voluntary ministry experience, I have seen so much hurt in the church as proclaimed believers treat one another without humility. Believe me, I have had my fair share of falling to this problem as well and still do. We all suffer from blowing our opportunities to show humility to one another.
Friends, I want to encourage all of us to practice humility with one another. We need this in our homes, our places of work and in the church. God calls all of us to focus on reaching out to others and putting them first as we live our lives. This does not mean our needs and interests are not important as Paul shares in Philippians 2, but that we consider our needs less and other’s needs more. God will always provide for us and we need to learn and practice more humility in order to show His love with others.
Paul knew how challenging it was for believers to practice humility and share His love. So often Paul mentions to different churches the need for love, not only between believers, but also to non-believers. Each week as I think about my interactions with people at work, with my family at home and then at church, I am reminded that He has called me to love others and practice humility. I am hoping and praying that we, His church, will make a huge effort to start practicing this more and more.
The world needs to see believers living out humility with one another instead of seeing so much disunity. I know this is a tough pill to swallow, but it is so true. Loving one another is key and will build God’s church and the Kingdom more and more.
We have a great need and calling for humility!
Weekly Devotional Blog Site www.zwdevotions.com