“For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
I Peter 2:25 NKJV

“Like a good shepherd, he takes care of his people. He gathers them like lambs in his arms. He holds them close, while their mothers walk beside him.“
Isaiah 40:11 ERV

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”
John 10:11‭, ‬14 NKJV

“Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
Psalms 121:4 NKJV

“The Lord is my shepherd. I will always have everything I need. He gives me green pastures to lie in. He leads me by calm pools of water. He restores my strength. He leads me on right paths to show that he is good.”
Psalms 23:1‭-‬3 ERV

“Even if I walk through a valley as dark as the grave, I will not be afraid of any danger, because you are with me. Your rod and staff comfort me.“
Psalms 23:4 ERV

“The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night.”
Psalms 121:6 NKJV

“You prepared a meal for me in front of my enemies. You welcomed me as an honored guest. My cup is full and spilling over.“
Psalms 23:5 ERV

“Your goodness and mercy will be with me all my life, and I will live in the Lord’s house a long, long time.“
Psalms 23:6 ERV

I have a Good Shepherd. He is the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul. He never sleeps nor slumbers. He ensures that I have everything that I need. I am kept safe in Him. I am protected from the scorching sun, the moon provides me light in darkness.

Thank You Lord.

Background

Humility is often misunderstood. If someone asked you a direct question; say, ‘Elyse, are you humble?‘ what would your response be? Yes/No/Not Sure/I think so/ etc…. 🙂 Now that is something to consider….

Early this year, I said to one of my ‘elders’ … ‘I admire your humility, that is something I’ll be learning from you this year‘.

Honestly, that sounded really good to me, but even as I said it, I wasn’t really sure what it meant. Truth? there were aspects of this person’s life that one may not really judge as ‘humble’.

So here I am, desiring to learn humility and yet not fully understanding what humility truly means…

Hey, it’s Friday!!!

Welcome to a brand new study series on my blog; Bible Perspectives on Humility. I trust God that this series will be refreshing, exciting, instructive, …and humbling.

Study Scope

In this study series, among other things we will look at;

Definitions of humility (dictionary and biblical), false humility, relationship between humility and obedience, who to be humble to, benefits of being humble, results of prideful living.

Introduction

Humility is a virtue every Christian should strive for. Three immediate benefits of combining humility with the fear of the Lord are riches, honor and a long life (Proverbs 2:24).

“True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life.” Proverbs 22:4. NLT

In Mathew 11:29 Jesus admonishes us to be lowly in heart, just as He is. According to Jesus, this manner of living will helps keep our soul at rest (….I will think that is because you do not have anything to prove to anyone).

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29 NKJV

A lowly person is someone who is humble in manner and spirit. This suggests that humility is more of the state of the mind more than an outward demeanor.

In Philippians 2:5, Paul, citing Jesus as an example shows that humility when done properly, does lead to elevation or exaltation.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11

So, humility is a noble trait, as having a lowly estimation of oneself leads to elevation, exaltation, riches, honor and long life.

I already love humility! But what exactly is it?

What Is Humility?

Dictionary Definition of humility

Humility is the quality of having a modest or low view of one’s importance. It is meekness, lowliness and absence of self. Humble people appreciate little things, they respect others and are open to other viewpoints and ideas, they keep their success, accomplishments and achievements in perspective, they acknowledge their mistakes and limitations, they take responsibility for their actions, they listen more and talk less, they do not go around saying they are humble.

Some synonyms for humility are; modesty, meekness, lowliness, submissiveness, diffidence.

Some antonyms for humility include; pride, self-importance, arrogance, haughtiness, etc

So, what do you think? How do you score based on this dictionary definition of humility? Poor/Fair/Good/Excellent? 🙂

One important thing to clarify at this point is that having a low view of oneself should never be interpreted as being a pauper, a beggar, an unimportant or irrelevant person. To humble oneself does not mean to have low self esteem neither does it mean to suffer from rejection or insecurity. There is liberty/freedom where the Spirit of The Lord is.

Every child of God has been bought by the precious priceless blood of Jesus Christ, and as such is royalty, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own ‘peculiar people’. You are like a Lamp on a Lampstand.

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
I Peter 2:9 NKJV

Humility is a state of the mind, and not just an outward demeanor. Someone can be outwardly humble and yet arrogant and prideful in their thoughts and actions as shown by their decisions and choices.

It is also important to note that this dictionary definition of humility essentially focuses on a view of oneself relative to others. And depending on how you look at it, this definition may seem somewhat tilted more towards describing a group of persons with some form of real or perceived achievement, accomplishment, worth, value, etc, who inspite of that, are humble (…just an observation).

Question: Can a poor person be arrogant? Can an uneducated person be prideful? Can someone without any significant worth, talent or achievement (by the world’s standard and ranking) be arrogant?

I leave you with these thoughts. In the next part, we consider Bible meanings of humility.

‘I BELIEVE’ is All Jesus ever looked for in order to heal (John 9:35, Mark 11:24, James 2:19, John 11:26, etc).

“…every man heard them speak in his own language.” Acts 2: 6b

On the day of Pentecost, the Bible informs us that this momentous event was heard in all languages. No language was left out. The 21st Century is science and technology driven. Will it be right to ignore the language of science and technology when propagating the gospel?Before we answer the question, it is pertinent to look at the past.

The Bible was written in the agrarian age when society depended on agriculture as it primary means for support. The parable of the sower, The Parable of the Mustard seed, and the Parable of the Wicked Husbandman are just a few pointers to this. The imageries and language used were apt because they were concepts that people understood and identified with.

Biblical principles are timeless but it will be reasonable to say that if the Bible was penned in the 21st Century, a few technological parables may have been included. I believe that without using the language of science and technology, it will be difficult to connect to a certain population of people.

Many people believe that science and spirituality are polar opposite but from the Christian perspective they are not. From the biblical perspective, the spiritual realm is stable, predictable, certain, reliable. In Psalm 19:7 we are told that the law of the Lord is perfect. If the Biblical spiritual laws are not amorphous it therefore implies that it can be subjected to scientific scrutiny and expressed using the scientific language.

Science is like the Biblical doubting Thomas and does not believe anything without evidence. In other words, science does not have blind faith. Although Our Lord Jesus rebuked Thomas for his unbelief, nevertheless He spoke to him in a language that he understood.

In this era of wireless communication, I pray that the good Lord will give the church the boldness to speak with the new tongue of science which is part of the new tongues promised in Mark 16:17. A careful observer will not fail to recognize that communication with God is wireless!

Iniobong T. Ekpo is the author of the book “The Spirit Transplant – The Science of God Decoded“.

……………………..

Dear Iniobong (my brother and friend), thank you for your article. As always this is another ‘deep thinking stuff’. It is crisp, concise and deep.

I agree with you that for effectiveness in propagating the gospel and winning souls, it is to the Church’s advantage to speak in ‘the new age language’. As you cited in Acts 2, the observers that gathered on the Day of Pentecost marveled and were amazed on hearing their respective languages spoken by strangers.

“And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?”
Acts 2:6‭-‬8 NKJV

Science is by default evidence based and it is never totally satisfied. And as you rightly pointed out, the Word of God is timeless, powerful and forever settled. As Christians, I believe our quest for knowledge and evidence as regards our belief can be guided by Luke 11:29 and James 1:6-8. This would be helpful to quickly recognize and clip even the smallest iota of doubt which may be subtly presenting as a quest for evidence.

“And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.”
Luke 11:29 NKJV

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
James 1:6‭-‬8 NKJV

The Word of God is powerful in and of itself. Such is the power that brought on another round of amazement and bewilderment on another group of observers as Peter, an uneducated unscientific fellow preached….

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”
Acts 4:13 NKJV

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Friends, remember you can now publish on Grace Obomanu Blog (under the Christian Life Saving Skills Category). Simply email your articles to graceobomanu@gmail.com. Together we are making known the Beauty and Benefits of our Belief, thereby giving others the opportunity to believe too. That is what the Father’s Business is all about.

Love Always❤

Grace Obomanu

If 5 loaves of whole bread fed 5,000+ persons (with 12 baskets of fragments) and 7 loaves of whole bread fed 4,000 persons (with 7 baskets of fragments), how many persons will 1 loaf of whole bread feed?

A Vessel of Honor and Grace is a person embodying a particular quality, attribute, trait, gift or talent for the service of God and the benefit of mankind, who receives and communicates only the wisdom and counsel of God derived from the Word and the Spirit. Any disciple of Jesus Christ can become this vessel

Our Monthly Newsletter is a rich repository of refreshing and inspirational publications on the blog from the immediate past month, praise reports and a preview of upcoming events for the coming months.

A budget is a guide. Start with what you can come up with and refine it over time. A poor budget is better than no budget at all. So don’t wait for a perfect one.

While it may seem like our momentary subconscious negligence of the all-time workings of grace in us is a bad thing, we can actually rejoice with the realization that we are all-time champions

If only we can like Martha identify the areas of our Christian faith that need strengthening. Can we like Martha be sincere and honest about the pressure points in our faith walk? If only we can be humble and cry out to the Lord; ‘Lord help my unbelief!’, the Master will not condemn us, but He will most eagerly stoop down and help us up.