Humility - the main missing ingredient

In 1923 R A Torrey preached a sermon about why D L Moody was successful in his ministry. Among many things he said about D L Moody, there was one which caught my attention – D L Moody was a humble man. Here is one of the quotes from that speech,“Faith gets the most, Love works the most but humility keeps the most”.

Humility keeps everything it gets. Pride and self-importance will cause a man or woman to seem wise in his own estimation and arrogantly confident in his own ideas. The bible says in Proverbs 26:12, “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him”.

Pride is a downward motion – it takes relationships down. Pride destroys fellowship and unity in relationships.
It always brings competition and contention. People quarrel and contend for their ideas because of pride. Usually they will then desire pre-eminence or be rebellious against authority. Finally the spirit of sectarianism begins to drive them. You see the spirit of pride operating in many spheres of life – we are the better church, we have the best ideas, we have the best ideology, and if you are not part of us, we can’t listen to you. The attitude of pride divides a family, community, or nation. Pride is very destructive in nature. The bible says in Proverbs 18:12, “Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honour is humility”.

Pride makes one contentious and independent of others in thought or action. Pride says I don’t need you I can make it on my own.
To make it on your own is not success - success is when we make it together. We must always avoid words or actions that are motivated by pride, because pride is divisive by nature. The proverb of Solomon declares, “By pride come nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom”. Humility is foundational to the success of relationships, whether it be marital, professional or just friendship.

Humility helps us to submit to one another, in spite of our differences in life, because it helps us perceive the differences in others as parts that are needful in society. Humility will make you to be kind to people on your way up, because you understand that you are who you are because of their contribution to your life. Pride has a way of making us lose people or friendships that matter in life.

Lose

Pride will actually cause us to lose divine connections, but when we walk in humility, unity in our homes, communities and nation will be evident.  Humility seems to be the missing ingredient in today’s society. 
We have become so self-centred and so self-seeking.  As a result there is no abiding unity and peace among us, in our homes and work places.
Humility gives us a revelation of our own imperfections and weaknesses, and helps us give credit to God for all our accomplishments in life.

  Hence we are solely dependent on God for our worth and fruitfulness, and can accomplish nothing good and of eternal value without God’s help and others He has brought in our lives.

The inevitable tendency of human nature is usually towards pride, not humility, and yet humility is foundational to meaningful relationships that build up families and nations. Humility means – humbleness, lowliness, meekness, modesty, self-abasement, submissiveness and unpretentiousness.  Pride is to have an exaggerated feeling or thought of self-importance and self-esteem based on own merits, superiority and accomplishments.
Humility is essential to any meaningful and progressive relationship, because humility helps us to say “I am sorry” when we have missed it.  It is very difficult to relate with a person who perceives himself or herself to be ever right. 

Self-righteousness is a child of pride.  Self introspection is key to walking in humility.  How are my actions towards others?  Do I appreciate the deference in others? Do I celebrate other peoples’ accomplishments?  Am I happy when someone is promoted? Am I a fault-finder or a solution finder?  Do I get upset when I am corrected for wrong doing?
How do I correct others when they have done something wrong? When things are not done in a way that I like, can I still be supportive in implementing that idea?

In making relationships work at any level we must always be conscious of the motivations of our hearts. 
Nation builders are humble and secure in who they are.  They are not in competition with anybody; they are in competition with the best they can be in creating a progressive and better society.

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