Today's sharing comes from the notes from my Discipleship Counseling class. More specifically, the ideas are from Andrew Murray's writings in his book on humility.
The epidemic vice and root of every vice is pride.
The endangered virtue and root of every virtue is humility.
Pride - The mindset of self (a master's mindset rather than that of a servant): a FOCUS on self and the service of self, a PURSUIT of self-recognition and self-exaltation, and a DESIRE to control and use all things for self.
Humility - The mindset of Christ (a servant's mindset): a FOCUS on God and others, a PURSUIT of the recognition and the exaltation of God, and a DESIRE to glorify and please God in all things and by all things He has given.
In our study, we listed about 30 manifestations of pride, including: a lack of gratitude, seeing yourself better than others, talking too much about yourself, seeking independence and control, being unteachable, lack of service, lack of asking forgiveness, resisting authority, being jealous or envious, using attention-getting tactics, and more.
We also listed manifestations of humility: recognizing and trusting God's character, focusing on Christ, seeing yourself as no better than others, talking about others only if it is good or for their good, being gladly submissive and obedient to those in authority, seeking to build others up, serving, admitting when you are wrong, repenting of sin as a way of life.
There are so many verses (Col. 3:12, James 4:7-10, Prov. 27:2, Rom. 12:3, Prov. 6:16-17, Jer. 9:23-24) that correspond to these, and I would encourage you to seek out the Scriptures diligently, and pray that the Holy Spirit can help you regularly inspect and search your heart because pride can be blinding, and so subtle but ever so present in our lives.
Dear friends, without careful evaluation, pride pollutes our lives and poisons our relationships with each other, but especially with our almighty God because it becomes self-worship.
May we learn to regain a high view of God and a proper view of self, so that we can put off pride and put on humility at the level of our thoughts and motives, through our communications, and in our deeds.
"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." - Phil. 2:3-8
Our battle with sin is a daily thing. I pray that you'll work hard to clothe yourself with humility, and by God's grace, to "have" and make our own, the mind of Christ.
Grace and peace to you.
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