Tag: humility

Posted on

Humility

Lesedauer 4 Minuten

Over the past week I have read the word humility again and again during my quiet Bible reading. That’s why I took a closer look at this topic. What does it mean to be humble and why it is so important to be humble?

The term humility comes from old high German diomuoti (‘willing to serve’, i.e. actually ‘attitude of a servant’). In the Christian context, humility denotes the creature’s attitude towards the Creator. The humble recognizes and freely accepts that there is something higher and unattainable over him. (from Wikipedia)

My thoughts:

A humble person in the christian sense shows the following characteristics

  • he believes that god exists
  • he subordinates himself to this god
  • he is ready to serve
  • he takes himself back
  • he values others more than himself
  • he recognizes his weaknesses and can accept them
  • he can accept help from God and other people
  • he can let go
  • he can confidently put his life in God’s hands and give up control
  • he does not live by his own strength, God is his strength
  • he does not live for his own honor, he wants to give glory to God with his life

The opposite of humility is pride / arrogance. A proud / haughty person has the following characteristics:

  • he doesn’t need a god, he doesn’t need to believe in a god
  • it is difficult to subordinate himself
  • he thinks more of himself than of others
  • he is proud of his strengths and can hardly accept weakness
  • he wants to do everything on his own, cannot accept outside help
  • instead of letting go, he holds on
  • he wants to have everything under control and has difficulty trusting someone
  • he has to do everything with his own strength and efforts
  • he seeks recognition for his achievements and enjoys being honored by others for it

Pride [from: stolt = splendid, stately] is the feeling of great satisfaction with oneself or with others, a respect for oneself – be it one’s own person, be it in connection with a highly respected or revered “whole”. (from Wikipedia)

Having a humble heart is very important to God, when I read the in Bible about women and men of God they all have one thing in common: humility. An example is Moses, who despite his position, which he received from God, never became arrogant, but always trusted in God, gave him the honor and did not rely on his own strengths and abilities. His own position was never more important to him than the good of others.

I think humility brings us closer to God, pride and arrogance keep us away from him. If I am humble, I know that I need God and I will ask for His help. At the end of my own strength I am ready to live from its strength. I can let go and take myself back. So God has the opportunity to work in me first. On the other hand, if I am proud / haughty, I won’t even ask for help, I try to be strong on my own, I always want to do everything myself and not make myself dependent on someone else. With such a heart, I close the door to God and i am on my own.

I find it liberating to believe in a God who has everything under control so that I can let go and let myself fall into his hand. I don’t have to do everything on my own. I can accept my mistakes and weaknesses knowing that a strong God lives in me and guides me. If I know that I am not perfect myself, I can also accept mistakes and weaknesses of my fellow human beings and not put myself higher than others, I am ready to submit and serve.

“Humility is the only way to learn to respect people” Fred Ammon

However, humility does not mean making yourself small, thinking badly of yourself, devaluing yourself, feeling inferior.

It means knowing who you are in Christ and living through his strength

I found the following Bible-verses speaking of humility:

“Lord, my heart is not proud and my eyes do not look down on others. I am not concerned with things that are too big or too wonderful for me. I am very quiet and safe, like a child with its mother. Yes “Like a child, my soul is in me” Psalm 131: 1

“In all humility and meekness, in patience. One endures the other with love” Ephesians 4: 2

“Do nothing out of self-interest or for the sake of vain honor, but in humility respect one another higher than yourself.” Philippians 2: 3

“Where there is arrogance there is shame;
but wisdom is with the humble. “Proverbs 11: 2

“Be mindful of one another. Do not seek high things, but stick to the low things. Do not think yourself wise.” Romans 12:16

“Humble yourself under the Lord, he will exalt you” James 4:10

“A man’s arrogance humiliates him, but the humble receives honor” Proverbs 29, 23

“The reward of humility and fear of the LORD
is wealth, honor and life “Proverbs 22.4

“Now humble yourself under the mighty hand of God so that he may exalt you in his time” 1. Peter 5,6

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am meek and humble from the heart; you will find rest for your souls. Because my yoke is gentle and my burden is light.” Matthew 11: 39-30

“Before a fall, a man’s heart is proud;
and before you come to honor you have to be humble “Proverbs 18:12

“And he sat down and called the twelve and said to them: If anyone wants to be the first, he should be the last of all and all servants.” Mark 9:35

“And what is small in front of the world and what is despised, God has chosen what is nothing so that he can destroy what is something that no man can boast of before God” 1 Corinthians 1: 28-29

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not trust in your mind” Proverbs 3: 5

“No longer I live, but Christ in me” Galatians 3:20

“Jesus Christ says: ” My strength is powerful in the weak.” 2 Corinthians 12.9

“I can do everything through him who makes me strong.” Philippians 4:13

Posted on

God does extraordinary things through ordinary people

Lesedauer 6 Minuten

Reading the Christmas story in the Bible, this year especially Mary, the mother of Jesus, moved me and I thought about her person and her role in God’s great plan.

What do we read about Mary in the Bible?

Maria was an ordinary young girl from Nazareth. She was a housewife and was engaged to the carpenter Josef. She had grown up in poor conditions. She had dreams and plans like many other girls of that age. One day the angel of the Lord appeared to her with a greeting and told her that she would get pregnant and give birth to a son to whom she should give the name Jesus. This Jesus will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and his kingdom will never perish. We can imagine how scared Maria must have been. She was probably very scared. The angel said to her:

“Do not be afraid, because you have found grace in God.” Luke 1:30

Since Mary was still a virgin, she asked the angel how all this could happen. The angel answered

“The Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child you will give birth to will be holy and will be called the Son of God ”Luke 1,35

He told her about Elisabeth, who was pregnant in her old age and was now in the 6th month.

“Because with God nothing is impossible” Luke 1.37

When reading the story, I am particularly moved by Maria’s answer. She answered:

“I am the servant of the Lord and I bow to His will. May everything you said come true and happen to me. ”Luke 1:38

Mary was chosen by God, although she had nothing special to show, in the eyes of society at that time she certainly seemed unsuitable for carrying out an important task for God. She was young, poor and a woman.

What are the characteristics of Mary that have led God to implement His plan through her?

    Mary was a believer, knew and lived the Old Testament scriptures, and knew about the prophets’ predictions about the birth of Jesus.

“Therefore the LORD himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin is pregnant and will give birth to a son, whom she will call Immanuel. “Isaiah 7.14

When Jesus was born in the Bethlehem stable and the shepherds came to Mary and Joseph and told that they had received the message from the angel that this child was the promised Savior and Messiah, there was no doubt in Mary’s mind.

“But Maria kept all these things in her heart and often thought about them” Luke 2:19

    Maria trusted God
    Maria was willing to make herself available to God
    Maria had love for God
    Maria was obedient
    Maria had a yes to God’s plan for her life
    Maria was a servant of God
    Maria was full of sacrifice and devotion
    Maria was loyal
    Maria was fearful of God
    Maria was humble

Maria realized that God would do great things through her life, yet she was not proud or arrogant. Maria knew that this story was not about her, but something much bigger. She did not consider herself special, she had no special honorary position, she was aware that she too was a person who needed a Redeemer. Mary herself gives all honor, adoration, admiration, praise, worship to her God. This is expressed in her song of praise to God:

“My soul praises the greatness of the Lord / and my spirit rejoices over God my Savior. / Because he looked at the lowness of his maid. / Behold, from now on all genders blessedly praise me. / Because the mighty has done great things to me and his name is sacred. / He has compassion from gender to gender for all who fear him. / He performs powerful deeds with his arm: / He scatters who are arrogant in the heart; / he overthrows the mighty and heightens the low. / He gives gifts to the hungry and leaves the rich empty-handed. / He takes care of his servant Israel and thinks of his mercy / / which he has promised to our fathers, Abraham and his descendants forever. “Luke 1, 46-55

I can learn from Mary that God wants to use each of us and has a special task for everyone. Maria was a person like us, she heard God’s speech and acted accordingly. Your willingness was important to make God’s calling come true for your life. Besides her, God has called many ordinary people to make extraordinary things come true. Maria was important, but everyone is important to God.

“While he was still speaking, a woman in the crowd shouted:” Happy is your mother who gave birth to you and nourished your breasts! “But he replied:” Yes, but happy are all who hear an do the word of god “

“When he was still talking to the people, behold, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to talk to him. Then one said to him, Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside and want to speak to you. But he answered and said to him who told him: Who is my mother and who are my brothers? And he stretched out his hand over his disciples and said: Behold, this is my mother and these are my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Matthew 12.46-50

What we can still learn from Mary is prayer. In the story of the wedding at Canaa. When the wine ran out, Mary turned to Jesus because she knew that he could help.

“Jesus replied to her: Woman, this is MY thing, not yours. MY hour has not yet come ”John 2: 4

Mary herself could not do miracles, it was God’s business, but Mary expected the miracle from Jesus:

“She speaks to the servants: What He tells you does” John 2: 5

For me, Mary is a role model in her faith, her humility, her devotion, her loyalty, her sacrifice, in her trust, in her obedience, in her love, in her willingness, in her humility, in her fear of God and in her yes to God. No more and no less. It shows me that God alone deserves all worship and honor for what he can do in us humans. That is why I do not worship her and for me she is not an intermediary or advocate with God. My mediator and advocate with the Father is only Jesus.

“Because there is a God and an intermediary between God and man, namely the man Christ Jesus” 1 Timothy 2: 5

We can ask ourselves today:

    Are we ready to listen to God’s speech, give ourselves to him, do we have a yes to HIS plan in our lives?
    Do we also believe that God can do great things in our lives?
    Are we ready to make ourselves available to God and to be obedient?
    Do we also believe and trust in God’s miracles?
    Is our heart also open to the love of God?
    Are we also humble to make sacrifices for God?
    Are we willing to serve faithfully?
    Are we ready to submit to God, to worship and praise Him for what He is and does?

God wants to use you and me to make His glory visible in the world.

Finally, a text by Peter Reid:

Every time I say, “Jesus, I can’t do that,” Jesus says, “I know, but I can.” Every time I say, “Jesus, I am not capable”, he says: “So what? I am capable. “And every time you say:” Jesus, it is not me “, then Jesus says:” Don’t worry! I am “. It doesn’t depend on you. It all comes down to Jesus! And the next time you think you have an excuse for why God can’t use you, think of the following people I’m listing now: Noah got drunk. Abraham was too old. Isaac was a day dreamer. Jakob was a liar. Lea was ugly. Josef was mistreated. Moses was a murderer – like David and Paul. Deborah was a female judge. Gideon was scared. Samson even had long hair. Rahab was a prostitute. David was too young – by the way, like Jeremiah and Timothy. David pretended to be insane – had an affair and ran away from his son; Elia was a suicide candidate. Jeremiah was depressed. Isaiah preached naked. Jonah ran away from God and Naomi was a widow. Job lost everything. John the Baptist ate grasshoppers. Peter was angry. Johannes was self righteous. The disciples slept while praying. Matthew was a thief. Simeon was fanatical. Martha took care of everything. Maria was lazy; Maria Magdalena was demon-obsessed. The boy with the fish and bread was unknown – until today. The Samaritan slept with several men. Zacchaeus was too small. Paul was alone. Markus gave up. Timothy had an ulcer and Lazarus was dead. What is your excuse? Please give me one more reason why God can’t use you? God wants and can use you! Certainly not because you are so great. But because he gave you a new life: And that is Christ in you. And from his strength you can learn to live.