Momentum: Pursuing God’s Blessings Through The BeatitudesSample

How to Cultivate Humility

"Humble yourselves…" 1 Peter 5:6

Humbling yourself begins with an accurate measure of yourself: “Love… does not insist on its own way” (1 Corinthians 13:4, 5). Where am I insisting on my own way, Lord? Help me to see that. “Love… is not irritable or resentful” (13:4, 5). Where have I been irritable? Resentful? Open the Bible and ask God to show you.

Measure yourself by the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) or by the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Measure yourself by the Beatitudes (Matthew 5) or by the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Measure yourself by everything God calls you to.

If you do this, you will become poor in spirit. You will find yourself saying, as every true Christian does: “Lord, I fall short of what you’re calling me to. I need to find in you what I do not have in myself.” This is what the Christian life looks like.

The apostle Paul says something fascinating about how to use the law: It was “our guardian until Christ came” (Galatians 3:24). The law was given as a guardian (or a mentor) to bring us to Christ. You can use the law like this every day.

The commands of God rightly understood will cultivate humility. They will bring you to the place of saying “I don’t have what it takes.” And here’s the good news: Seeing your need is the place where blessing begins: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

That’s where the law brings you, and the end of the law is the beginning of the gospel! The law will bring you to a place called “poor in spirit,” and Christ will meet you there.

For further reading, see Galatians 3:23-24