humility about humility...

Have you ever caught yourself saying that you were trying to be humble about something? Think for a second...really think. Is saying you are humble really being humble? Humility is something that I struggle with in my day to day life. I mean honestly...when you look as good as I do it is really hard not to be honest with everyone and let them know how good I look. :) Seriously though...let's unpack this for a second...

So I was reading Matthew 6 tonight (mind you it is about 2 in the morning right now) and if you are in any way, shape or form familiar with that passage or have been in church at least once you know Matthew 6 is the chapter of the Bible that the infamous Lord's Prayer can be found. In 18 years of church I have neglected probably the most important and practical part of this chapter...don't get me wrong...it's all awesome and practical. But this is something so easy and yet gets looked over so much...

read the first 4 verses...

1. Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father on heaven.

...before I go on, check this out. As I was reading this tonight (or this morning) it was like God slapped me across the face and said "YOU IDIOT LOOK AT THIS!!!" But it was a good kind of slap. :) It hit me tonight that I have been so guilty in the past of trying to be righteous and do things that I think are honoring God...but I have done them with a proud heart or tried to discreetly let people know that I am doing these things. The one that immediately came to my mind and the one I think is most prevolent in my life is titheing. So many times I have intentionally waited to fill out my envelope and check right before the plate is passed just to, in my selfish nature, let it be known to those around be what I am doing. No wonder I felt like I was missing out on God's blessings for titheing. I was doing it selfishly and pridefully! What an idiot!! A few weeks ago this finally hit me, even before I read this verse tonight. This has just reminded me of it once again. I digress...

2. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ( just re-establishes my last point). 3. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing (keep reading and I will explain) 4. so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

...alright. I will be honest...the first time I read verse 3 I was super confused. It actually took reading this at least 5 times before it began to click. In short terms, it is saying that your righteous acts, or in this case giving, should be kept secret even from your self so that you will not get a big head about what you are doing to advance the Kingdom of God. That really stuck out at me as well. Along with my struggle with humility...I have some trouble with self pride. Sometimes I think I am worth a whole lot more that I am to others. So in the instance I talked about earlier, titheing, I have to be careful not to let others see or even let myself get a huge head over what impact I think that I am making. And the best part of the whole thing? God will reward us for just doing these things with a good heart and for Him!! And we all need a good reward every now and then! :)

I guess in saying all this, the main point is that God doesn't want us to want others to see our good works for Him. God is a jealous God and wants what we do to be for Him and only Him.

Oh yeah...if you decide that you want to look this up for yourself, read the whole chapter of Matthew 6!!! It is really awesome and so practical to everything going on in our lives. It talks about fasting, living for something beyond this life, worry and judgment. Hope you enjoy and read this really cool stuff!!!!

until next time...