Dwelling with the humble

"Heaven may be in a sordid slum or a palace, and I can make My Home in the humblest heart. I can only dwell with the humble. Pride stands sentinel at the door of the heart to shut out the lowly, humble Christ." --- From "God Calling," edited by A.J. Russell

The 'I' in the above statement is God. I read this excerpt from the devotional "God Calling" last night and wanted to share it here. Pride vs. humility seems to be a theme in my life lately. Not just with me, but in situations I see others going through as well. A theme Bible verse for me during the past few weeks has been 1 Peter 5:5-7: "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

The apostle Peter, the author here, is quoting Proverbs 3:34 with the phrase, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Interesting what God does with the proud -- He doesn't just ignore them, put up with them or otherwise appease them. He opposes them. Have you ever felt opposed by God? He doesn't ignore the humble either. He doesn't think them spineless. He gives grace to them. Grace is unmerited favor. So God favors the humble.

Christ Himself is the very picture of humility: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:5-8)

Think about that: Christ in his very nature is God, yet He didn't insist on being treated as if He were God. "He made himself nothing . . . . And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself . . . ." A humble God? It's almost too hard for me to grasp.

The fact that God Himself is humble explains why He opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humility and pride are like oil and water. They don't mix. They can't survive together.

Humility is hard. Our culture tells us humility is becoming a doormat. It's letting people run over you. I've been learning humility is more complex. It's holding your tongue when you could speak up, when you think you have a right to speak up. It's also the opposite -- speaking up when you're afraid of how people will receive what you have to say. Humility is not always having to prove you're right. It's being OK with yourself when you realize you're wrong -- and a willingness to admit when you are. It's knowing you don't know everything, and realizing no one expects you to.

Humility is not having to be the center of everything, not insisting you get the credit for everything you contribute. It's giving other people the benefit of the doubt, not letting your "imagination balloons" about what others are thinking and feeling, get the best of you. The hard part for me is mixing humility with proper boundaries. It's easy to go to the extreme and adopt the doormat definition of humility.

"I can only dwell with the humble." Is pride standing sentinel at the door to my heart? The thing I've been learning about pride is that it's like the elephant in the room few want to talk about. It's obvious to the humble but invisible to the prideful.