Unshackled Moments ~ August 25 ~ Is Eeyore Humble?

“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 

~ I Peter 5:5b-7

It is common to think of someone who is humble to have no self-esteem. They just go around like they have no value and everyone and everything is more important than they are. We see humility as being more like Eeyore than Jesus. But Eeyore isn't humble. Eeyore is depressed. Jesus humbled Himself, and yet there has never been anyone, not will there ever be anyone, who truly understood who they were and they're value than Him. He is the very firstborn of the Father and heir to the kingdom.

Being humble doesn't mean you're worthless or a doormat. It doesn't mean thinking less of yourself. Then what does it mean? Well, I have heard it said that humility is thinking of yourself as right sized, not too highly nor too poorly. I have also heard it said that humility is being teachable. I think that there is some truth to both of those ideas, but we can deduce what God considers humility in the verses from I Peter 5 above. God has an issue with those who are proud. It's not about high or low self esteem, but rather what Jesus said to the Pharisees when He basically told them that He couldn't help them because they didn't need Him. He came for the sick, not the well. The truth is that we are all sick, but the proud don't realize and understand that they need God and can't do it on their own. He cares about us and wants to heal, restore and lift us up. But He can only do that to those who submit to His healing hands.  Humility is simply understanding that we need Him and knowing that we can not be justified, righteous on our own. We can not save ourselves or even be worthy of saving without His grace.

I am a child of the Most High God. I am a treasure in His eyes, bought at a grace price, loved by the one who fearfully and wonderfully made me. I have great value and understanding that is to see myself as God wants me to see myself. But I also must know that I need Him so that I always look to Him as the author and finisher of my faith, as my complete source and every answer. His is God, and I am not. I need Him. That is humility, not the "Well, do whatever you want to to me because I am not worth loving and everyone else just walks all over me too," self depreciation that comes pouring from Eeyore's melancholy soul. We aren't called to that but to joy.