Finding Humility In The Wisdom of Christ
By: Alex Geisler
I don’t know about you, but I really like being right. As a new believer, I loved the idea that truth is knowable. An all-powerful and all-knowing God made Himself known to ME by coming to earth to die for MY sins and has given ME the ability to know Him and tell other people how great He is??? In the past, you could find me on social media or in relationships telling others about truth and boy, was I proud that I was someone who “knew it”! You guessed it, another opportunity for me to be right.
If your trust is in Jesus, you’re probably thinking, “That’s the exact opposite of the point! We come to faith when we know our need for a Savior, not to be right!” Congratulations, now you’re the one who’s right!
This pride and desire to be right led me to struggle in relationships with others, often harming them with poorly-delivered truth. It blinded me to really hear other points of view, because I was too busy forming my argument. It caused me to emphasize my own “role” in God’s redemption story for my life, rather than seeing His.
Maybe you have a different problem. Maybe your heart struggles to believe that you, a human being, could ever really know anything about the biggest questions of our lives. Maybe the notion that we each have our own truth is much more appealing, because the boldness of truth is too uncomfortable in relationships with others.
Whichever struggle is most commonly yours, we can all sometimes insist upon our own rightness, or doubt the existence of truth in a given situation. One conflict of the Christian life involves holding these two realities simultaneously:
1. You have Truth
Scripture is clear that the Holy Spirit lives inside believers, working for their growth and the growth of those around them (John 14:16-18). Jesus himself says that the role of the Holy Spirit is to remind believers of him – his teachings, his character, his ways (John 14:26, John 15:26). Scripture is also clear that Jesus is Truth incarnate (John 14:6). So what does this mean? The Spirit of Truth lives within our very hearts, shaping our lives and the lives of others and revealing Himself as He sees fit (John 14:17). And why does that matter? Because it is the ability to know God that allows us to understand His unending, unwavering love for us, demonstrated in Jesus. As Jesus himself prays:
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent… I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” – John 17:3, 26
Each believer has, within herself, the ability to know the One who created her. As the Holy Spirit teaches us more about who God is and what He has done, we are more able to clearly understand how we should live our lives and help our brothers and sisters to live theirs.
2. You do not know everything
In case you need reminded (like I sometimes do), we ourselves are not the Holy Spirit. Truth lives within us, but we are not Truth embodied. Scripture tells us that, in order to obtain knowledge and wisdom, we must first fear the Lord (Proverbs 1:7) and that humility is the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 22:4). What does that mean? It means that to have the truth and wisdom you desire, you must first have a humble heart before your God, knowing that He is greater than you could ever be. And how can we ever become such humble women? James has an answer for us:
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. – James 3:13
In order to be wise, we must be humble before God. In order to be humble before God, we must be wise. In order for either of those things to happen, you cannot do anything, but God Himself must act. Our ability to know anything about God first comes from the gift of God Himself (Matthew 11:27, 1 John 5:20). This was true about the first moment that you trusted in Him, and remains true in every part of your life, every day. Sister, do you see that pride and wisdom have no business with each other?
Why does any of this matter? Ladies, in some way, we each need to be reminded of one of these things. This is especially true as we seek to walk in truth and grace in our interactions with one another. In our culture of increasing division, this has perhaps never been more true in our lifetimes.
If you struggle to speak boldly to the sister in your life who is confidently walking in the sin of pride (like me) or greed or lust or anger or drunkenness or laziness, be encouraged that the Spirit of God lives within you! God has revealed His perfect character to you and given you the ability to understand and share truth that will be life-giving to your sister.
If you struggle to always be the first and loudest to point out the shortcomings of your sister, be encouraged that God knows her heart (and her sin) more intimately than you ever could. In God’s grace, He may use you to bring her to truth and repentance. But equally in His grace, he might not. Seek genuine relationship with your sister, hear her situation, and pray for the Lord to bring wisdom and guidance in whatever way He knows is best. Remember that any words that flow from our mouths that bring life cannot ever be attributed to ourselves in pride, but only to the One True God.
My prayer for all of us is to be able to understand the amazing confidence and the genuine humility that comes from being a daughter of the Servant King. May our true and loving words to ourselves and to each other always bring Him glory, and may we understand more each day the breadth, and length, and height, and depth of His love for us.
