Last night at the Wednesday night service we talked about humility. In preparation, I ran across a list of 5 ways to grow in humility by a former archbishop named Michael Ramsey. I am paraphrasing them here just in case anyone is interested:
- Thank God often and always – thank God carefully and wonderingly, for your continuing privileges and for every experience of His goodness. “Thankfulness is the soil in which pride does not easily grow.”
- Be sure to confess sins daily – examine yourself and ask God to examine you often. Don’t be morbidly introspective but be honest and walk constantly in the light.
- Be ready to accept humiliations no matter how painful they are to your ego. Accept the pain that comes from your own mistakes coming home to roost without blame or denial.
- Do not worry about status. The only status we should be concerned with is our proximity to the Lord. Don’t even consider whether others think highly or lowly of you.
- Use your sense of humor. Laugh about things, laugh at the absurdities of life, laugh about yourself and about your own absurdity. We are all infinitely small and ludicrous creatures within God’s universe. You have to be serious but never be solemn, because if you are solemn about anything, there is the risk of becoming solemn about yourself.
See you next Wednesday,
Sandra