More On humility

"Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?" -James 2:5

"But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong." -1 Corinthians 1:27

"And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with my weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." -2 Corinthians 12:9-10

"And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight." -Hebrews 11:32-34

"The LORD looked at him and said, 'Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?' He said to Him, 'O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house.'" Judges 6:14-15

"'Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.' But Moses said to God, 'Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?'" -Exodus 3:10-11

"But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass, he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flowers fall off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away." -James 1:9-11

"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." -John 15:12-13

"Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 2:2-5

"who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every other name." -Philippians 2:6-9

"He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary." -Isaiah 40:29-31

"But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, 'God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.' Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you." -James 4:6-10

"You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in at the proper time." -1 Peter 5:5-6

"Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see." -Revelation 3:17-18

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, 'Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?' And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, 'Truly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me." -Matthew 18:1-5

"But Jesus called them to Himself and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.'" -Matthew 20:25-28

"So the last shall be first, and the first last." -Matthew 20:16

"He must increase, I must decrease" -John 3:30

"A man's pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor." -Proverbs 29:23

"When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this man,' and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." -Luke 14:8-11

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." -Matthew 5:3-6

H U M B L E Y O U R S E L F

The Student & The Professor

"Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,

to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men." -Titus 3:1-2

THE STUDENT AND THE PROFESSOR (story)

I do not want to go to my next class. My professor is flat out dumb. I can say that at least ninety-nine percent of students in the class think so too. I love learning about music—the theory, the variety of music, the different sounds, all of it. There's just one problem. My professor. He stinks. No one likes him.

I remember this one day. We were learning about modulation. I'm not going to go further into explaining this subject, but the way my professor explained it was just stupid. People around me were laughing to themselves, making eye contact with others in the room, and the prof had no idea. It was pretty funny, actually. The way he teaches is pointless. It does not help. I mean, why does he even try? How does he even have the position to teach? I bet if we picked a student in the classroom, who was the worst at teaching, to teach, they would do better than him. He just makes a fool of himself. Anyways, as he was trying to explain this subject, he would make the weirdest gestures to try and explain it. I forgot to mention, this was the third day in a row explaining this to us. So, we already understand. What a joke. What is the point of coming to class? Near the end of his "teaching", as he was demonstrating modulation through his gestures, he tripped over his own foot and collided with a music stand and stumbled to the ground, looking completely ridiculous and clumsy. This caused an enormous uproar of laughter in the room. And I don't even feel bad to say that I was probably the loudest one laughing. What a day that was.

Ever since then, the students shared the joy in making fun of him. We imitated his gestures, laughed hysterically about his little mannerisms, and more—both in class, and outside of class.

But I remember one day, and I'll never forget it. I felt so guilty. And I must share. We were in class, and it was the week before finals week. At this point, the professor knows that he is hated, and that no one likes him because of his quirks. Near the end of class, he did another gesture trying to explain recapitulation. I saw around the room looking for people's eyes to get a laugh going. Very soon, students just start giggling in their seats, whispering to each other. Some grumbled and made faces. But the sound grew louder and louder. The professor knew too. Suddenly, he just stopped talking and dropped his arms to his side.

"There is no point," he said. "You all will not listen, but are more concerned about pointing out my faults." There was a short pause in the room. "Class dismissed." He leaves walking out the door, very direct.

This was too funny for us students. We started laughing out loud because at this point I knew everyone felt the same way I did. We started getting our stuff ready, when all of a sudden, one student says something. It was Johnny.

"Hey guys, can I just say something?"

He had a serious tone to his voice. The noise of everyone in the room died down and all were listening.

"Who are we?" asked Johnny.

No one knew how to respond to this, so there was silence.

"Does anyone here actually care for him? What if that was you? Could you handle all the crap from your students?"

"Uh, not if made a fool of myself every single day." Someone responded. This made everyone laugh, especially me.

"Just stop!" Johnny continued. "Look at yourselves. You have no respect for your teacher. Instead, you delight in making fun of him. In fact, it pleases your soul that he is put down. What makes your slander okay?"

We are dead in our tracks, surprised that someone had the guts to bring this up.

"Stop thinking about yourselves, please. Before you start to laugh again, because of the wickedness of your heart, take this time and opportunity to humble yourselves. Or have you forgotten what love is?" He gets up and leaves the room.

Oh, the conviction in the room. I guess I was right when I said ninety-nine percent.

Defend yourself all you want. God is looking at your heart. Doesn't matter what class and what subject. How will you respond? Even if you do not agree with the things the teacher believes, what is your response? How will you humble yourself?

G O D

I S

W A T C H I N G.

"Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,

to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men." -Titus 3:1-2