I used to be afraid of being prideful. Whenever I felt that I was getting prideful, I would squelch it by lying to myself. I would say, ’no, you’re not good at that.’ After a while though, I actually started to believe it. I thought that by having a low view of myself, I was being humble. My view of humility was characterized by not bringing any attention to yourself. I had this view that I almost had to become average to be humble. This kept me from pursuing excellence wholeheartedly; it made me constantly look around and compare myself to others. Continually putting myself down eventually led to insecurity which is detrimental spiritually and emotionally.
I had the wrong view of humility. Humility is not putting yourself down so that others will not feel bad. Jesus was the most humble person on earth and He went around proclaiming that He was the Son of God and confronting people
about their sin; he even threw people out of the temple. So what is humility? How do you balance being too complacent and too cocky?
My dad says that humility is power constrained. It is knowing that you have the ability to do something great, but only exercising that power at the correct moments. Just like a horse with a bit in its mouth. Because the horse has a bit in its mouth, doesn’t deny the fact that it can run, jump or buck; it simply means that its power is under control.
In the same way, our gifts should be like the horse. We should use them to exercise our strength when needed and restrain it when needed. This doesn’t mean that we parade our gifts around for all to see; nor does it mean we hide our gifts for fear of showing off. We should accept the gifts that God gave us and use them for His glory. He’ll let us know when it is appropriate to bring the tools out of the shed. All we have to do is trust Him and follow His lead.
Rebekah Diaddigo 