Humility Is A Must

For anyone who knows me, they know that one of the most important human characteristics and/or traits is humility. There is no perfect person and we all are in the human flesh so we do have to fight back the temptations and urges that this flesh brings forth which means, we have to humble ourselves. This is not something that I succeed at one-hundred percent of the time but that’s why we must continue to our walk with Christ through sanctification: “For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Leviticus 11:44).

When I was younger, I loved to watch and play nearly all sports especially baseball and football. Nowadays, just about the only sport that I enjoy watching and follow with any sincere interest is Major League Baseball but one of the common linkages in all sports that connects so many athletes is arrogance. Many believe that great athletes need to have a chip on their shoulder to beat and defeat other athletes of the same athletic skills but this is not true as there is a fine line between being arrogance and having confidence. One of the best examples of this is Los Angeles Angels center fielder, Mike Trout, who is the best player in the game of baseball but he’s also the most humble player in the sport.

Trout is not only the best player and the most humble player in the game of baseball but he’s also the highest paid player in the game and this is a rarity in any major sport and honestly, it’s a rarity for any institution. As most Christians know, God created all things and we are told this in Genesis and God walked this Earth in the form of Christ so if we did not think that God knew how we felt before learning of Christ, we no longer have tow doubt so God knows the temptation of man better than anyone else. Because of His knowledge of what arrogance will do to a person, He stresses the importance of humility by telling us to “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6).

Of course, there are many humble athletes as they are no different than you and I. They are limited by the same time, space, and matter as we are and they put on their clothes the same way and bleed red as any of us do so we should not make idols of these men and women. When we disagree with someone, there is that urge and temptation to challenge what we disagree with and while there is nothing wrong with this, these urges can go too far. Sometimes, we just have to let people think what they want and see us however they will and know that it’s not important. Yes, again, we have the same temptations and urges but we must humble ourselves enough to know that what God says is more important: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7); “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:10).

When we disagree with someone, there is that urge and temptation to challenge what we disagree with and while there is nothing wrong with this, these urges can go too far. Sometimes, we just have to let people think what they want and see us however they will and know that it’s not important.”