Humility is beyond a shadow of a doubt the most significant element of forgiveness. It is directly opposed to pride. Where pride seeks selfish gain, humility seeks selfless gain. True humility is to esteem another more greatly than yourself.
To humble oneself before God in repentance is mandatory for all believers.The sin of pride is at the root of all evil. Self-exaltation and rebellion is what caused satan to be "cut down to the ground."
At one time satan was called Lucifer which means "son of the morning." He was filled with pride and said in his heart, "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (Isaiah 14:12-14 KJV). As a direct result, both he and his co-conspirators were thrown out of heaven.
Pride and self-exaltation have no place in your life for it is God who "maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up." (1 Samuel 2:7 KJV)
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (1 Peter 5:5), "therefore humble yourselves, not only one to another, but to the great God, whose judgments are coming upon the world, and must begin at the house of God; his hand is almighty, and can easily pull you down if you be proud, or exalt you if you be humble; and he will certainly do it, either in this life, if he sees it best for you, or at the day of general retribution." (1 Peter 4:17)
Humbling yourself before others is necessary. It is sad when we see dissension and grievances in the church. One who was slighted by another may make disparaging remarks in return; a misunderstanding may cause anger. These all have in common one significant theme: "They hurt my feelings!" "They made me angry!" "They can’t do that to me!"
All of this is self-centeredness. Me, myself, and I can be our three worst enemies and is the unholy trinity.
I have seen bitter squabbling result from one church member sitting in somebody else’s usual seat! Even more unbelievable was when a friendship was virtually dissolved between two women because one spoke to another woman in the church before greeting the friend!
I’m sure you can think of many such instances yourself. Pride is usually the cause of most dissension and disputes in the church. We get our feelings hurt because we are a proud and arrogant people.
Humility is an acquired behavior resulting from the old nature being put to death and becoming a new creation in Christ Jesus. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Throughout my business life, I had "entrepreneurial" drive and motivation. Success, based upon the work of my own hands, was my ambition. I have done almost everything I’ve ever wanted to do and been -for the most part- successful. There was a time, however, when everything I did turned sour. No matter how hard I prayed, fasted, and sought the counsel of those more experienced than I, nothing would go right. Every possible option was considered and tried. We revamped the business plan, changed locations, and tried different approaches to advertising. Nothing seemed to work. I even surrendered to the possibility of closing the business and working for someone else, so I sent out hundreds of résumés, but no one offered me a job.
I was confused, angry, and totally stressed out. For almost a year, our lives were completely upside down. The car was repossessed, the bank foreclosed on our home, our daughter ran away from home, and we went bankrupt.
During that time a visiting evangelist spoke at our church and called people who wanted prayer up to the front of the church. Along with some others, my wife and I went forward. After praying for the group in general, he called out two people for whom he felt God had a special message. I was one of them. The other person had recently suffered major physical problems that threatened him with the loss of his job and his ability to drive.
The evangelist did not know either of us personally, nor had he learned of our problems beforehand. He spoke first to the one with the physical problems and told him that the Lord would intervene in his circumstance and bring healing to his body and keep him from losing his job (which ultimately happened!). He then turned to me and said essentially that God was going to bless the business, but that there would be very difficult times ahead. I had no idea just how difficult it was going to get. In fact, this happened before we had lost everything.
One day, just prior to losing the house, I was contemplating with my wife what the evangelist had said. She reminded me that I was also told to walk humbly before the Lord while all this was happening. I, of course, didn’t remember those words until she reminded me but now I began a serious attempt to understand how to do this. Studying the meaning of the word "humbly" and all its variations, I fasted and prayed, seeking insight.
Soon one day, while teaching an adult Bible study class at our church, it dawned upon me that what was holding my wife and me together through this crisis, in addition to God’s abiding grace and trustworthiness, was our involvement in the church. By spending time concentrating on teaching and ministering to others, we were not concentrating on our own problems.
Our reason for working with, and teaching, believers is to help them to realize who they are in Christ, to help prepare the "Bride to meet the Groom." This has been our heart’s desire since the day we were married. So, we weren’t consciously avoiding dealing with our circumstances because we have always been very active in ministry. I hadn’t realized until that point how important reaching out to others was when it came to dealing with personal crises.
During those times of teaching and ministering, we were not thinking of ourselves. The growth of our students in the understanding and knowledge of the Bible was more important to us than our own needs. I have learned that "walking humbly before the Lord" is not just resisting pride and arrogance, but having greater concern for the needs of others.
After teaching the disciples one day, Jesus was asked who would be the greatest in heaven. He called a child to His side and said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3-4)
Becoming a Christian required that you had to accept the fact you were a sinner and to repent of your sin. By doing that, you were humbling or submitting yourself to God, acknowledging that you needed a Savior because you were incapable of saving yourself. Children know that they can’t care for themselves and that they need another to care and provide for them. Humility is the acknowledgment of that need.
When you acknowledge by your words and in your behavior that you really do need the help of others, you humble yourself "like little children." When teaching young church leaders how to grow in grace, Peter wrote, "Young men, in the same way, be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5)
Each day when you get dressed, you make a conscious effort. In the same way, you must take deliberate action on a daily basis to clothe yourself "with humility toward one another." By doing so you will learn obedience and submission.
The greatest example of humility can be found in Jesus "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:6-8)
Jesus set aside His divine glory to take the form of a servant. He voluntarily accepted temptation, suffering, and death in order to understand and identify with each one of us.
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9)
Jesus "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28)
In the great prayer of intercession for every believer, Jesus requested of the Father, "Glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began." (John 17:5)
This request was made in great humility so that the glorious condition He held prior to coming to earth would be restored. When Jesus chose to become human He laid aside His awesome and glorious majesty, so that when He was "lifted up from the earth," He could "draw all men" to Himself. (John 12:32) Jesus had to suffer humiliation in order that we could be forgiven.
If you humble yourself and repent of your foolish pride, you will find the ability to forgive the unforgivable. And when you do, you will find how easy it becomes to get through those terrible times of your life and experience the healing power of forgiveness.
