One Path to Humility

"When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is with you in secret; and your Father who sees what is kept secret will reward you." - Matthew 6:6

One of the things that irritates me the most is when I feel under- appreciated. I cannot stand it when someone assumes less of me than what I'm capable of doing or understanding. But I've come to realize something very important… this comes from my pride and not from a healthy self-esteem. If I had a healthy self-esteem, it wouldn't get to me, but the evil pride in me feels insulted,… and where pride is, humility must be cultivated. How exactly can we work on becoming more humble? In this verse, although Jesus is talking about fasting for God alone and not for others to see us and think we're holy, He brings up a very good point. Only God is with us in secret and only God knows our hearts. If we're people of faith who aspire to grow in holiness, we need to depend only on what He thinks of us. For example, if someone assumes I don't know how to do something, instead of getting angry, I offer it up to God and remind myself that God does know what I'm capable of. More importantly, my self-esteem needs to be based on how God sees me, not anyone else. This breeds humility because we begin to lose the desire to have others think so highly of us and instead work on our hearts so that God thinks highly of us. And the best thing I've found is that not only does God give us patience to carry through, but if we're sincere in trying to be more humble, He'll raise us up to higher levels as He always gives us so much more, even when we give a little bit.

Today's Prayer:
Jesus, You deserved all the glory and praise, but instead You chose a humble life. You never expected praise from anyone and I want to be like You. I want to leave behind any vain-glory and be humble of heart as You are. In Your Name we pray, amen.