Tag Archives: humble yourself

August 25, 2025 · 5:43 AM

Choosing Selflessness

I was really into basketball as I was growing up. I played it every day, watched movies about it and watched a lot of games. While everyone was trying to be like Michael Jordan, I gravitated to Magic Johnson and John Stockton. I loved how Magic saw the whole court and could pass without looking. With John Stockton, I loved how selfless he was in passing the ball to Karl Malone. To this day, John Stockton is the all time assist leader in giving up the ball so Malone could score. Stockton gave up the ball so much that Malone is third all time in scoring. In a world where ball hogs exist, these two showed what being selfless created greatness.

In John 3, while Jesus is gaining in popularity and having people follow Him, John the Baptist was losing followers. Some of those who remained with him were upset that people were leaving their ministry to follow Jesus. John explained that he was very clear about not being the Messiah. He then said of Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (ESV). The words used to say “I must decrease,” weren’t passive as a response to Jesus increasing. They conveyed active and intentional humbling of self so that Christ could increase. John was actively being selfless while his disciples were being driven by pride.

James 4:7 says, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (NLT). Again we see the Bible telling us to be intentional about being humble. If you want more of Christ in your life, you’re going to have to be more selfless. You’re going to have to build up His name rather than your own. He will increase in our life as we submit to Him and actively decrease as John the Baptist said. We live in an age of self promotion, yet God’s call to us as believers has been just the opposite. Resisting the devil begins with resisting pride. When you learn to lose yourself for the sake of Christ, you will find life. Instead of being driven by pride, determine to be humble and selfless. As you decrease, Christ will increase and the devil will flee.

Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

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June 19, 2025 · 5:30 AM

The Lies Of Pride

Have you ever been at an event where it’s pretty much over and it’s time to clean up, but no one is helping? You pick up the chairs and tables. People move out of your way, but no one helps. Then you get down to the last few and people all of a sudden want to help. You say, “Don’t worry about it. I got it,” but I side you’re a little mad. Your thought process inside is that at this point, you want credit for doing the whole thing so later when you tell the story, no one helped you. It’ll get you more sympathy from whoever you tell it to, plus their rage at the lack of someone helping. That’s pretty much human nature to act and think that way, but it’s also prideful because you’re seeking full credit.

Pride is strange that way. It masks itself so that it doesn’t look like itself. In 2 Kings 5, Naaman had leprosy and wasn’t sure what to do about it. His servant girl that he had taken from Israel told him about Elisha. When he went to visit him, Elisha didn’t even come out to greet him. Instead he sent his servant out to tell him what to do. This hurt his pride. What’s more is that Elisha instructed him to simply dip in the Jordan seven times and he would be healed. Now his pride was on full display because he refused to do such a simple task for his healing. His servants convinced him to do it. When he got over his pride, he dipped in the water and was healed.

1 Peter 5:6-7 says, “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (NLT). Why are these two verses together? Because pride is often what keeps us holding onto our pain, worries and burdens. We like the sympathy we get and we’re too stubborn to ask for help with them. We’ll just handle it ourselves! However, God wants us to humble ourselves, admit we have cares, problems and worries so that He can help us. It takes getting over our pride in order to ask for help. It takes humbling ourselves to give them to Him. Don’t spend another day believing the lies of pride. Do what God asks and get your healing. He’s ready to take them from you and carry your burdens if only you’ll let Him.

Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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August 10, 2022 · 5:52 AM

Humbly Return

The importance of mentorship ne of the things I try to teach people. All of us could benefit from someone more experienced at any area of life to help us achieve growth in that area. The problem is that most of us are too proud or scared to ask someone to do it. I’ve had the privilege of working with some amazing leaders in large companies. One lady was the most approachable leader I’ve met, and she is the head of the retail side of a Fortune 15 company. She told me that people ask her all the time to mentor them. She tells them to set it up with her assistant.. She would love to be a mentor, but no one takes that next step to set up the meeting.

I love the story of the Prodigal Son. After taking his share of the inheritance, he took off to see the world and make a name for himself. If he had asked his father for wisdom, the father would have explained the importance of saving up for tough times. However, the son was living for the minute and ran out money when the famine came. After working for pig slop, he decided to humble himself and return home. He knew that at the least his father would accept him back as a servant and he would have food, shelter and money. What he wasn’t expecting was the willingness of the father to do exceedingly more than he could have imagined. His father ran to him as he got close to home. When he humbled himself and repented, he was forgiven and restored.

James 4:7-8 says, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you” (NLT). Humility is our first step in approaching God. We must know we need Him and His help. We must be bold enough to resist the devil and his lies that would try to keep us from the Father. He’ll try to appeal to our pride and fear to keep us away. However, when we, like the Prodigal Son, head towards God, He will rush to meet us with open arms. He will forgive us, restore us and mentor us as His children. All that He has is available to us if only we would humble ourselves and seek Him.

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July 18, 2022 · 5:50 AM

The Lies Of Pride

Have you ever been at an event where it’s pretty much over and it’s time to clean up, but no one is helping? You pick up the chairs and tables. People move out of your way, but no one helps. Then you get down to the last few and people all of a sudden want to help. You say, “Don’t worry about it. I got it,” but I side you’re a little mad. Your thought process inside is that at this point, you want credit for doing the whole thing so later when you tell the story, no one helped you. It’ll get you more sympathy from whoever you tell it to, plus their rage at the lack of someone helping. That’s pretty much human nature to act and think that way, but it’s also prideful because you’re seeking full credit.

Pride is strange that way. It masks itself so that it doesn’t look like itself. In 2 Kings 5, Naaman had leprosy and wasn’t sure what to do about it. His servant girl that he had taken from Israel told him about Elisha. When he went to visit him, Elisha didn’t even come out to greet him. Instead he sent his servant out to tell him what to do. This hurt his pride. What’s more is that Elisha instructed him to simply dip in the Jordan seven times and he would be healed. Now his pride was on full display because he refused to do such a simple task for his healing. His servants convinced him to do it. When he got over his pride, he dipped in the water and was healed.

1 Peter 5:6-7 says, “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (NLT). Why are these two verses together? Because pride is often what keeps us holding onto our pain, worries and burdens. We like the sympathy we get and we’re too stubborn to ask for help with them. We’ll just handle it ourselves! However, God wants us to humble ourselves, admit we have cares, problems and worries so that He can help us. It takes getting over our pride in order to ask for help. It takes humbling ourselves to give them to Him. Don’t spend another day believing the lies of pride. Do what God asks and get your healing. He’s ready to take them from you and carry your burdens if only you’ll let Him.

Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash

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July 30, 2020 · 5:30 AM

The Apron Of Humility

Several years ago, our area was hit by Hurricane Ike. Our electricity was out for over two weeks. Because of the work I do, I had to go to work anyway to help customers. A couple of days after the storm hit, the CEO of this Fortune 15 company flew down here. Each day, he put aside his tie, put on our uniform, and got behind a computer to help customers at one of our stores. When regular customers didn’t recognize him, they’d ask who he was. When he told them, no one believed him. He had to pull out his business card to prove it. Even then, there were skeptics.

To me, that’s a lot like what Jesus did. When the world was dark and powerless, Jesus left Heaven to come to earth to help us. He put aside His Heavenly body to take on the form of a man. He walked among us to help us. Many did not recognize Him nor believe He was who He said He was. When He proved it by doing things only God could do, they were still skeptical. Even though there were doubters, He continued to do the work that He was sent to do

Philippians 2:5-8 tells us exactly that, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross” (NLT). What it says first is very important. We should have that same attitude.

We should never be above doing any work in the Kingdom. There is no position high enough or level of spiritualness that you can attain where you don’t have to get down in the trenches and serve like everyone else. Jesus was still exhibiting the qualities of a servant the night before He completed His mission on earth. He made it clear He was the Messiah, the Son of God, and yet He served others. John 13:4 says, “So He got up from the supper table, set aside His robe, and put on an apron” (MSG). He took off the robe that signified His greatness and position, to put on what the lowest ranking person wears in order to serve.

Christianity is not about becoming a great and powerful leader. It’s about becoming an humble servant. It’s following the example of the One who gave up all authority in Heaven and earth to wash the feet of others. It’s about meeting people where they are so they can see what God’s love is like. If the CEO of Heaven took off His robe to put on an apron and serve, we should put aside our pride and follow His example of serving others. Wearing the apron was an outward example of the position of His heart. If you feel you’re above putting on the apron of humility, pray that God would give you the same attitude Christ Jesus had.

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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July 9, 2018 · 5:40 AM

A Significant Life

I’ve never met anyone who said, “I don’t care if my life doesn’t matter.” Each of us in some way want our lives to matter. We want to live significant lives. We want to make a difference. When we die, we want the world to be different because we were here. I believe that’s how most of us, if not all of us think about our lives. When we feel like we are making a difference, we are riding high. We feel most insignificant when we don’t think anyone notices us or that we aren’t making a difference. We can begin to feel worthless when we aren’t appreciated. Our feelings are tied to how significant we think our lives are.

If we want to live significant lives, we should see what God says about it. James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves (feeling very insignificant) in the sight of The Lord, and He will exalt you (He will lift you up and make your lives significant) (AMP).” So the way to really live a significant life is to feel insignificant in the sight of The Lord. It’s when we humble ourselves before God that He can begin to do something significant with us. Until then, we are out seeking to live a significant life to get the glory ourselves.

When we humble ourselves, we let God know that we understand we are nothing without Him. We show Him that we recognize that all we have is given to us by Him. Being humble in His sight is understanding that our talents, our jobs, our income, our skills are all a gift from Him. It’s not because of anything we’ve done. It’s not because we are self made people. Our lives can only become eternally significant when we stop and recognize that He is the source of everything we have. When we recognize that, we won’t be out seeking glory for ourselves. We’ll be doing things for His glory.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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July 12, 2016 · 6:09 AM

Enduring The Storm


Several years ago I lived in Cairo, Egypt. At certain times I would be about my business when I would notice people begin to scurry and panic a bit. I would then turn around to look at the dessert to see a dust storm coming. It would look like a huge brown wall from ground to sky getting bigger as it approached. I was given a warning when I first moved there. I was told that if I ever saw that, take cover and wait it out in a building. If I got caught in it, I wouldn’t be able to see and could get lost or possibly die.

Some storms that come into our lives are like that. They come when we least expect them and they’re blinding. If we don’t act quickly, we can lose sight of where we are going, lose our way, or feel like we’d rather die. These storms that pop up out of nowhere can be very dangerous if we don’t take shelter from them. You never know how long they’ll last, but if you’ve taken shelter in God, you can weather any storm.

Most of the early chapters of Isaiah are about the Lord’s wrath against cities and countries. It’s about destruction that God is going to bring on the ungodly. But in chapter 25, Isaiah begins to praise the Lord for His awesome power and ability to destroy. In verse 4, he reminds us who God is in the storm. He wrote, “But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O LORD, a tower of refuge to the needy in distress. You are a refuge from the storm and a shelter from the heat” (NLT).

Just like I was able to run into a building when a dust storm was coming, we can find our reprieve in Him. Too many times though, we try to fight the storm in our own strength. We try to weather it on our own. I can tell you that’s very tiring and will wear you out. I’ve tried that strategy. I ended up laid out on my living room floor exhausted from the battle before I cried out to the Lord for shelter. In our own strength we can’t endure very long, but we are stubborn and try.

It takes humility to admit you can’t do it. You can choose to humble yourself and seek God for shelter or the storm can humble you. God would rather we admit up front that there’s nothing we can do on our own to fight the storm. He would rather we admit we can’t do it in our own strength, and that we go to Him for His. Don’t let pride stand in your way and keep you from praying, “Lord, I need you to shelter me from this storm. I can’t endure it on my own. I need your help.” When we humble ourselves, He us faithful and His grace is sufficient to cover you and to help you endure.

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