By Jesse McCarthy / Cowboys of the Cross
As Christian cowboys and Christian ranchers, it’s easy to have an “I can do it myself” mentality. We think it shows our strength, that we don’t need help, or that we can be the boss of our life. In reality, I think it takes more strength to go against the fleshly desires of pride and self-gratification, to do the unnatural thing of showing humility.
God speaks clearly about this in the book of James.
James 4:6-7 “ 6 …God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.”
In a world of social media that counts “likes and shares” it’s easy to get caught up in praising ourselves, but as Christians we need to remember the words given by God through Paul, “ 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3
This isn’t something we can do on our own, we need to ask God for the strength to be humble rather than serve our own egos and desires.
When faced with our own needs for help, or the need to admit wrong, are we practicing humility? This was something I recently battled with as I had to leave town for a few days. While I was trying to complete my responsibilities on the ranch, I was put in a dilemma when I ran into a small water problem that I didn’t have time to fix. I could hold onto my pride or admit I couldn’t do it and ask for help. In this case it was an easy decision, because I knew that the cattle wouldn’t have water if I didn’t humble myself and ask for help. It was obvious, if I would have held onto my pride it would have caused suffering to others, in this case the cattle.
Thankfully, Jesus has given us the perfect example of humility through His life. Paul reminds us that Jesus, who is fully God, humbled himself, came down and took on human form to pay the ultimate price and be the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
Philippians 2:5-8. “ …Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count
equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Could you imagine if Jesus would have left it up to us to try and earn our salvation, instead of humbling himself to take God’s wrath in our place? We could never do it and would just end up suffering. On our own we are incapable of living a life good enough to enter heaven. Paul reminds us of this in Romans.
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
Unfortunately, there are so many still trying to hold onto their pride with the “do it myself” attitude, by trying to just be a better person, or go to church or do this or that; when the only way to heaven is through a saving faith relationship with Jesus. We need to stop trying to be strong and put our faith in our own works and show true strength by admitting we can’t do it on our own. We need help!
Praise God, He has given us help.
More than help, he has done it for us. So don’t let yourself suffer without the living water because of your pride, but humble yourself and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
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