The issue of humility is so vital that a step in the wrong direction at this point is a step away from Christianity because of the inextricable link between humility and the glory of all that God does by grace. The world has transported its false and man-centered thoughts about humility into the professing Church. When humility is left in the hands of human beings to work in themselves as a virtue, then what is called “grace” is also left in the hands of men because God gives grace to the humble. We are working with a few quotes from a recent but unnamed book that I am using as a background in an effort to show how the world has infiltrated the professing Church. The results and ramifications have been enormous, are presently enormous, and will continue to be enormous.
“[1] In this study, you’ll be learning about the character trait of humility…[2]You’ll learn that God rewards humility. [3] You’ll study about an angel and some people who allowed pride to enter into their hearts, and you’ll see what happened to them because of it….[4] You’ll also study about the punishment for pride…[5] To humble yourself means to make yourself low. How do you make yourself low? You make yourself low by not thinking more highly of yourself than you think of others. You make yourself low by putting others first-above yourself…[5] Humble people are selfless people….[6] Humble people admit that they have faults and weaknesses. [7] Humble Christian people admit that they are nothing without God. They admit that apart from God, they can do nothing.”
It is very dangerous to think of humility as simply making yourself low as in [5]. It is simply something that self does. According to that line of thinking, it is to make yourself low by not thinking more highly of yourself than others and then to put others above yourself. This is nothing but another way that pride can hide itself in the hearts of human beings. As long as we think of self doing the work, it is self doing the work. This is something that has been stated several times before and will be stated over and over. It is something that our hearts must learn and must be reminded of over and over. As long as it is self doing the work it is not the Spirit of God. So when the self is making itself low, it is self still doing the work and admiring itself in being low. It is one way that pride can hide itself in the heart in the form of humility.
Another way that pride hides itself in the form of humility is when it tricks itself into thinking that it is not thinking more highly of itself than it thinks of others. Pride is such a chameleon in that it will change into any color and anything in order to hide itself from others and then self. When self in its pride hears that to be humble it must not think more highly of itself than others, it sets out a way for its pride to attain humility. Now, of course, that is not how self presents these things to self, but that is the reality of it. The pride in our hearts does not want to admit pride because it hurts our pride to think of ourselves as prideful. So we find ways to keep our pride by hiding it in some form of humility. If we are working hard at not thinking more highly or ourselves than others, then pride will be hidden except when it escapes and makes us proud of ourselves for thinking of others before self. But of course if it is just pride hiding itself we are simply using others as a way to hide our proud hearts from ourselves.
The last point from [5] above is that “You make yourself low by putting others first-above yourself.” This one is again rather obvious. Pride wants to humble itself and so it simply puts others first. It allows others to go before it in a line at a store. It looks after certain things of others first. However, unless God has put pride to death in our souls and the life of humility which can only be the life of Christ in the soul is there, pride will feed on putting others first. It is still a way for self to be first. Our pride will be built up and grow at a rapid rate while it deceives us into thinking that we are putting others first. Apart from the life of Christ in the soul there is no way for self to put others first because it will be self doing it. It is also true that a human being should never put others first, but it is always out of love for God that we put others above ourselves. But we are never to put others before God.
Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
God Loves... Himself 
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