Win the Lottery...of Humility

What is God’s love affair with humility?

If you read the Bible, this fact is unavoidable - God has a thing for humility.

So why is it that this character trait, this virtue that God values so highly, seems to have so little value in our world?

It’s because our ways are not His ways.

I remember one time making a sales pitch to a bank.  It was my company, which was basically just me, vying against another company, being represented by two women.  We each appeared separately before the bank’s board of directors.  One of us would be handling all of the bank’s marketing and advertising.  And one of us would be going home a lot poorer than we had hoped.

I knew I had two roads I could take.  One would be the Hollywood road.  I could play things up in a big, fancy way, and make it look like I could move mountains for this bank.  But I knew that wasn’t realistic.  I mean, truthfully, there is only so much that marketing and advertising can do for a company.  So I made a very truthful and factual presentation, told them exactly what I would do and exactly what they could expect.

The ladies, which I anticipated ahead of time, blew me out of the water.  I just paled in comparison.  I was disappointed, but not surprised.  They had offered so much more than I did, such high results, I doubt that after their presentation the board even remembered my name.  I must say I walked away from that experience, with my hat in my hand so to speak, looking up to heaven and wondering, “Well, God, didn’t I do the right thing?  Wasn’t I honest?  Should I have done it with a lot more pizzazz, even though I knew I would be offering unrealistic expectations?” 

No, I just couldn’t do that and feel honest.  I offered a humble estimate of what I could do, and I ended up being humbled.  I felt like a big loser.  And believe me, I needed the money.

God loves humble, but the world doesn’t.  So who are you going to please, God or the world?  It is very tempting to say, “Well, God will love me and forgive me, so maybe just this once I’d better please the world.”  Well, my friend, that’s called compromise.  That’s called exalting yourself above God, thinking your way is better than His way.

“But to follow God’s way is so…humbling!”

Yes it is, and that’s just the way He likes it.  God loves humility.  He values it.  You know how we value money?  Well in God’s economy, humility is of great worth. 

Many people talk about winning the lottery, and what they would do if they won millions of dollars. 

But think about this, what would winning the lottery of humility look like?  It would look like you got knocked backwards, that’s what it would look like.  It would look like you lost.  It would make you look foolish.  You just can’t look awesome and cool, and be humble at the same time.  The lottery of humility would probably just look like you got knocked flat on your rear end.

And yet that would be very valuable to God.  Hard to believe, really, but it’s true.  God highly values humility.

So what are you going through today?  Are you feeling torn down?  Are things falling apart?  Do you feel hope draining away?  Maybe God is actually giving you something valuable.  Maybe God is giving you His very precious gift…of humility.

(As heard on Wave 94.1 FM)

dougapple@wave94

www.wave94.com