“Never bother your head as to whether what you say sounds humble before men or not, but always be humble before God, and let Him be all in all” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest).
Do you ever wonder how to be humble, and how NOT be paranoid that you're not being humble enough? Funny thing, eh?
I catch myself - often - explaining, justifying, even knocking myself down when I speak about something I was a part of or contributed to.
So John Stackhouse's blog post was a challenge for me to read. He quotes Chambers (above), and really puts the emphasis on being humble before God. I don't assume this means you can be as arrogant as you want before people, and then assume you're humble before God and it's all good (like the person who says, God knows my heart, but their actions really suck, it doesn't work that way). But I think it's about being graceful with yourself. Trusting that if you truly are trying to keep humble before God and people, an honest judgment of yourself or an event you're a part of does not have to be analyzed to the hilt....
I can say my sermon was better than some others' I've preached, not b/c I'm boasting, but b/c I always trying and improve my preaching (and hopefully learn from what I did better in that present moment: was it prayer, study, reflection, articulation, narrative, etc.).
I can say I led a meeting poorly, not b/c I'm trying to be humble, but b/c I'm trying to be grounded - know myself and my mistakes - and lead a better meeting next time around.
Does this make any sense? I'm kind of thinking out loud with this post.
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