It's a long story that's not worth retelling, but I've recently been chewing over the idea of being humble. The most challenging thing, to me, about this is not so much admitting wrong but rather changing course when it gets personal. It's hard to change. Some people thrive on change and new things when it comes to their surroundings, circumstances and interests, but it's hard to find a person on the planet who enjoys it when they realize that something about them, their views, their beliefs or their actions need to change. Change jobs? No big deal. Change hair color? OK. Change churches. Won't be stressful. But changing something about the core of who you are...um, no thanks.
So I'm learning. I'm continuing to learn more about myself, the effects of my own actions, other people and what God wants. And, not surprisingly, I've been wrong about many of these things in the past. I haven't so much minded realizing that I'm wrong...but it's changing something and reorganizing my thoughts and approaching life differently that is much more challenging and uncomfortable. Frankly, I don't like it very much. But it's good. It's very good.
What might you need to change?
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I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about some of this over the last few years, and have a few comments. As soon as I get them into some semblance of order, I'll comment. In the meantime, I'm going to leave you with this:
And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (James 1:4-5)
God wants us to grow, and while it's rarely an enjoyable experience, cherish it because it means that you are on your way to being more Christ-like.
And that's good, no?
Thanks for your comment! Yes, this is all part of learning to be humble and it is good.
The end goal of our lives as Christians is to grow closer to God. So in order to do that, we should be running toward God with all our might, and cherish the times that lead to growth.
Often there is a price to said growth - you can look anywhere you want, and you'll find examples of hard times where God was in the middle, drawing the people involved toward him. They just didn't see it at the time.
One of the major heart changes related to all this that occurred to me, is trying to cherish these times. Are they fun? No. Am I enjoying it? Hardly. But I know that with the right attitude, I'm being refined by what's going on, and will emerge on the other side having grown in whatever area.
A friend of mine once told me: "When we see God's fingerprints in our lives, it's time to party hard."
The important part just becomes remembering that you're going through something that leaves God's fingerprints on you, so that you can get an early start on the partying.
Thanks for sharing, Dominic!
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