"I told him to stay humble, stay teachable, forgive quickly and apologize quickly. It is good advice for all of us."
There are times I know God is speaking through me to others. I am sure any of you readers who are Christians can identify a time when you were used of God to speak to someone else. At times we find that those same words God speaks through us are spoken to us.
In the case of what I said to my friend as I wrote it down that night and now a year later as I read it today it applies to my own life.
Humility is a misunderstood word. In our present society we think of humble as it relates to things. People will call a small house a humble house. Some would say that someone without means in the natural is living a humble life. This is not the humility that God wants from us.
True humility is depending on God. Moses was said to be the meekest man on earth. Did you know he wrote that about himself? Most of us would say he was prideful. Not so if you have the right definition of humility and meekness. All Moses was saying about himself was that he was the one who depended on God the most.
In order to succeed in life we need to stay humble. That means we continually depend on God. Depend on Him for everything. For wisdom, direction, strength and whatever else you need. If we can stay humble then we can know that God will pour out His grace on us. God opposes the proud be He gives grace to the humble.
We should also endeavor to stay teachable. It is a personal goal of mine to be a lifelong learner. The crazy thing is that the more I know the more I realize how little I know. Especially when it comes to God. The more I know of Him the bigger He gets.
When we realize we don't have all the answers it frees us from pride and helps us to stay humble. Then we get back to the place of grace. Being teachable will also help us to navigate new areas of life.
Finally we should all be ready to forgive quickly and apologize quickly. Jesus forgave us. That is reason alone to forgive others. If fact, we are commanded to forgive as God in Christ forgave us.
Pride will stop us from both forgiving and apologizing. When we are prideful we hinder relationships and hold on to hurts. It is that ungodly spirit that insists "I was right and they were wrong!" that wont let go. A spirit of humility depends on God to forgive and apologize; even when you don't think you were that wrong. It doesn't matter as much as following the way of God. God's way is forgiveness. He showed us that in Jesus Christ.
This is just a short list of things that will help us in life's course. Can you think of any other good advice that you would add to this list?
