Pursue Humility: And Your Inheritance Will Over Take YOU!
By: Dr. Mike Jones
The defining character trait that scripture implies that Jesus wants to see in all His disciples is Humility.
Throughout sacred scripture, when you don’t see the actual word “Humility” in the text, it is implied: Turn to St. Luke 17:1-5; “Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
Now, look at what Jesus says to His disciples in verse 1 and His Apostles in verse 5.
What we see are 4 things the Lord says to His disciples and Apostles:
1) You are to restrain from offending: humble people restrain themselves from offending their brothers and sisters.
2) You are to be ready to forgive: humble people are eager to forgive.
3) You are to recognize your weakness: this is why the Apostles said, “Lord, increase our faith.”
4) You are to reject honor when you know you have been an unfaithful or unworthy servant.
And when Jesus came, the one group that He should have found exemplifying humility, should have been the religious leaders of His time: the Pharisees. They should have been showing humility to sinners; but instead they despised them and wouldn’t even associate with them, to show them God’s law; and offered them no forgiveness: Saints, they wouldn’t even recognize their own weaknesses: They spent time exalting themselves to receive honor from others. In Philippians 2:3-4, scripture says, “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but to the interests of others.”
(Adapted from the teaching, Pursue Humility: And Your Inheritance Will Over Take You; all Scriptures references are taken from the KJV, unless otherwise noted.)