As any reliable Christian will tell you, the darkest, most dangerous of all sins is Pride. Self-worship. Satan and his demons are consumed by pride. It was pride that compelled Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and to pass the blame before God when he confronted them on it. Pride leads to all other sins, and in a sense all sins are various forms of it. Pride is the absolute core of all that is so desperately wrong with the human race.
As such, the most crucial virtue, the quality which every one of us must continually strive for, is Pride's opposite: Humility. We must flee from the idol of the Self which stands grimly at the centre of our hearts, and look upward to God and outward to each other, with ourselves getting what (if anything) is left over.
This state of being is hard enough when we do it right. And unfortunately the devil has an ace up his sleeve which can very easily trip us up. He can mislead us using one of his most cunning and insidious deceptions, making us believe we are succeeding in humility when in fact we are just making ourselves miserable.
This trap involves our gifts. Our beautiful, God-given gifts.
Satan can very easily persuade us into believing that humility means denying that we have these gifts. That we are meant to convince ourselves that we are, in fact, not intelligent, or attractive, or strong, or brave, or talented. That we do not have the gifts God has given us, and to think and act as though we do, is being proud.
This is indeed a lie straight from hell. It kills growth and potential, it makes us intensely unhappy, it strains and stifles our relationship with Jesus. It is a complete waste of time and effort.
I want to state this as plainly as I can: there is nothing wrong with knowing that you are good at something. There is nothing wrong with that at all.
Knowing that you have gifts is not only good; it is vital to your relationship with Jesus and maximising the use he can make of you.
Humility is not denying your gifts, but very consciously using them to glorify God and bring love and care and cheer to others. It is remembering that your gifts are not your birthright, but simply gifts, that we must give back to God in his service.
Our gifts are, in themselves, morally neutral. Like money, like guns. There is nothing inherently good or bad about being good at guitar, having a pretty face, or having strong social skills. We are not destined to heaven or to hell because of our gifts.
Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler were both blessed with the gift of powerful speech. Both of these men knew that they had this gift. But one gave that gift to God and his people, and will be remembered forever as one of the great heroes of all history, a shining symbol of freedom and courage. And one used that gift for his own power and gain, and he will be remembered forever as a tyrannical monster who almost destroyed goodness itself.
I am immediately reminded of Dumbledore's words to Harry at the end of the Chamber of Secrets:
'It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.'
When it comes to your gifts as when it comes to everything, you have a solemn choice to make, my dear friend: you can give them back to God, or keep them for yourself. And keeping them for yourself is synonymous with giving them to the devil.
Now let me provide a Biblical example of this humility to answer an objection you may have.
At the beginning of 1 Samuel, we find an infertile woman named Hannah bringing her anguish to the Lord.
And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.”
1 Samuel 1:11
God hears her faithful request and promise, and allows her to conceive and bear a son. She keeps her promise, and sends her son to live permanently at the temple of God.
It seems so contradictory that God gives us gifts with the expectation that we give them back to him. Yet here we see Hannah doing just that: she is given the gift of fertility she so desperately desires, and yet gives the son she longs for back to the Lord.
Here we see a woman of astonishing faith and humility, and God's reward to her is a textbook example of the order of things I have described: first God, then others, and finally, ourselves.
With Hannah promising and giving God the glory, God was able to use her remarkable faith to bring one of his most important prophets, Samuel, into the world.
In dedicating her son to God's service, God could miraculously speak to and work through her son in ways that would benefit others, straight up to you and me as we read his incredible story.
And finally,
The Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.”
1 Samuel 2:21
Now we have Hannah, who had been unable to conceive at all, groaning happily under the beautiful stress of raising five more little buggers on top of Samuel.
Again: It still doesn't make sense! There is nothing logical going on here. I can't explain this situation any more than you can. There is nothing logical about Hannah's story. There is very often nothing logical about the way God works.
But the gifts God gives us are meant to be given back to him. The fact that you now know about this astonishing woman, so many centuries later, is a testament to the power of her gifts as one of the most blessed mothers who ever lived.
I should not be alive right now. There is no logic in the idea that I of all people should be breathing at all, let alone trying to explain all this crap to you.
My life and my gifts make no sense. But I know that I have them, and I have given them back (however imperfectly) to God. He is pleading with you, right now, to do the same. He longs to show you that logic is merely another gift. And he wants you to give him that gift too, that he might bless it in ways beyond your wildest dreams. I urge you to do so.
Not for any logical reason. In an act of humble faith.
As such, the most crucial virtue, the quality which every one of us must continually strive for, is Pride's opposite: Humility. We must flee from the idol of the Self which stands grimly at the centre of our hearts, and look upward to God and outward to each other, with ourselves getting what (if anything) is left over.
This state of being is hard enough when we do it right. And unfortunately the devil has an ace up his sleeve which can very easily trip us up. He can mislead us using one of his most cunning and insidious deceptions, making us believe we are succeeding in humility when in fact we are just making ourselves miserable.
This trap involves our gifts. Our beautiful, God-given gifts.
Satan can very easily persuade us into believing that humility means denying that we have these gifts. That we are meant to convince ourselves that we are, in fact, not intelligent, or attractive, or strong, or brave, or talented. That we do not have the gifts God has given us, and to think and act as though we do, is being proud.
This is indeed a lie straight from hell. It kills growth and potential, it makes us intensely unhappy, it strains and stifles our relationship with Jesus. It is a complete waste of time and effort.
I want to state this as plainly as I can: there is nothing wrong with knowing that you are good at something. There is nothing wrong with that at all.
Knowing that you have gifts is not only good; it is vital to your relationship with Jesus and maximising the use he can make of you.
Humility is not denying your gifts, but very consciously using them to glorify God and bring love and care and cheer to others. It is remembering that your gifts are not your birthright, but simply gifts, that we must give back to God in his service.
Our gifts are, in themselves, morally neutral. Like money, like guns. There is nothing inherently good or bad about being good at guitar, having a pretty face, or having strong social skills. We are not destined to heaven or to hell because of our gifts.
Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler were both blessed with the gift of powerful speech. Both of these men knew that they had this gift. But one gave that gift to God and his people, and will be remembered forever as one of the great heroes of all history, a shining symbol of freedom and courage. And one used that gift for his own power and gain, and he will be remembered forever as a tyrannical monster who almost destroyed goodness itself.
I am immediately reminded of Dumbledore's words to Harry at the end of the Chamber of Secrets:
'It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.'
When it comes to your gifts as when it comes to everything, you have a solemn choice to make, my dear friend: you can give them back to God, or keep them for yourself. And keeping them for yourself is synonymous with giving them to the devil.
Now let me provide a Biblical example of this humility to answer an objection you may have.
At the beginning of 1 Samuel, we find an infertile woman named Hannah bringing her anguish to the Lord.
And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.”
1 Samuel 1:11
God hears her faithful request and promise, and allows her to conceive and bear a son. She keeps her promise, and sends her son to live permanently at the temple of God.
It seems so contradictory that God gives us gifts with the expectation that we give them back to him. Yet here we see Hannah doing just that: she is given the gift of fertility she so desperately desires, and yet gives the son she longs for back to the Lord.
Here we see a woman of astonishing faith and humility, and God's reward to her is a textbook example of the order of things I have described: first God, then others, and finally, ourselves.
With Hannah promising and giving God the glory, God was able to use her remarkable faith to bring one of his most important prophets, Samuel, into the world.
In dedicating her son to God's service, God could miraculously speak to and work through her son in ways that would benefit others, straight up to you and me as we read his incredible story.
And finally,
The Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.”
1 Samuel 2:21
Now we have Hannah, who had been unable to conceive at all, groaning happily under the beautiful stress of raising five more little buggers on top of Samuel.
Again: It still doesn't make sense! There is nothing logical going on here. I can't explain this situation any more than you can. There is nothing logical about Hannah's story. There is very often nothing logical about the way God works.
But the gifts God gives us are meant to be given back to him. The fact that you now know about this astonishing woman, so many centuries later, is a testament to the power of her gifts as one of the most blessed mothers who ever lived.
I should not be alive right now. There is no logic in the idea that I of all people should be breathing at all, let alone trying to explain all this crap to you.
My life and my gifts make no sense. But I know that I have them, and I have given them back (however imperfectly) to God. He is pleading with you, right now, to do the same. He longs to show you that logic is merely another gift. And he wants you to give him that gift too, that he might bless it in ways beyond your wildest dreams. I urge you to do so.
Not for any logical reason. In an act of humble faith.
