Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Excerpt about humility

Jesus says, "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart" (Matthew 11:29). These beautiful words are a portrait of the heart of Christ. So we respond, "Jesus, gentle and humble in heart, make my heart like yours." Now we are really in for it! We have just opened Pandora's box. Why? Because we don't learn humility by reading about it in spiritual books or listening to its praises in sermons. We learn humility directly from the Lord Jesus in whatever way he wishes to teach us. Most often we learn humility through humiliations.

What is humility? It is the stark realization and acceptance of the fact that I am totally dependent upon God's love and mercy. It grows through a stripping away of all self-sufficiency. Humility is not caught by repeating pious phrases; it is accomplished by the hand of God. It is Job on the dunghill all over again as God reminds us that he is our only true hope.


--Brennan Manning from "The Signature of Jesus"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I use to deliver meals to those who had contracted HIV by infected needles or by same sex lifestyles. "I was going to bless others!" Well one rainy day my van packed with food got stuck in the mud.

I cried out "God help me" it was a dangerous neighborhood and it was getting dark. I was stuck! The destitute came out, they shoved boards, sticks and rocks under the tires and pushed the van out. I felt humility as the people whom I feared helped me.

hmmm..."who was blessed?" Qp