Humility

Through my study of what it means to be humble, God's Word has taught me the following...

I need to have the attitude that He had while here on earth.  I need to think less of myself, put others before myself, consider others better than myself, take a genuine interest in others, seek for all the ways that I can serve others.  I am ashamed to admit that too often I think about myself.  I think about my own wants, desires and preferences.  I want to stop wasting my life in this way.  I want to serve the Lord, and I want to do this through serving others as He calls me to.  I need to stop thinking about myself and think about others.  And besides, the Bible is clear that, "Pride comes before destruction", but on the other hand, those who are humble will be honored and blessed.  This is what I want.

The balance between results being up to our efforts or to God's will

I have always struggled to understand exactly what the balance is between me accomplish things through my own personal efforts compared to God's will being done to accomplish things in my life. Through studying 1 Corinthians 15:9,10 tonight I felt God was using this passage to give me some more insight into this matter.  There is no doubt that God is a realistic God.  He expects us to do our part and work hard at everything we do.  "We must work hard as if it all depends on us, and then live realizing it all depends on Him".  With that said, God is still in complete control of all results.  I believe this passage is explaining that only when God chooses to bless our efforts will we achieve success through them.  We can work hard at things all we want, but if God does not choose to bless those efforts, then I don't believe as Christians we will see the success we may want, or expect.

Work as if it all depends on me, then live realizing that it all depends on God.  The success I achieve  will directly relate to the degree that God decides to bless my efforts, for I can accomplish nothing apart from Him.