I believe too many people confuse being humble with being weak.
The truth is that to be humble takes maturity, compassion, and more than anything else strength of character.
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In the Bible we are told that Moses was the most humble of all men, yet he was brave enough to go up the mountain of fire, to lead over a million people for 40 years, and to act as judge over complicated disputes.
In my own life, I have tried to be humble but I am not always (truthfully, most of the time) too weak and self-centered to be able to withstand the idiocy of those who are less humble than me.
On my YouTube channel, I hold all comments for review before I let them go public. I just had someone comment on my message this past Tuesday with a pro-Palestinian rant, which most people would probably just have deleted instead of releasing because it is SO against what this ministry is about. But I was “humble” enough to allow it, responding that I am allowing the post to let people see how hateful and misinformed that person is.
So, was I being responsive in a cruel and insulting way? I don’t think so because I really didn’t directly insult the person; what i did was to point out that he was misinformed. If someone says hateful things and we say, “Yo, Bro- you are being hateful.” that is more of an observation than an insult.
And let em tell you, to not to insult that person, who really deserved to be insulted, took all of my strength.
I also had microphone issues on that same message and someone posted (which I allowed) that I must be Jewish because I was too cheap to buy a good microphone. Again, I allowed it and replied that I was going to take that as a joke, and explained that I was wearing the microphone incorrectly.
In truth, I doubt it was ever meant as a joke, but trying to be humble, I made it into one.
I would like to think in those two example I showed humility, allowing the insults to be presented to the public, and responding in a way that was not hateful or angry.
I confess that in my heart I felt that if they had been in front of me they would be reading the ceiling… after they regained consciousness.
So, as you can see, I still have a lot of humility exercising to do.
The question to ask yourself is how much humility exercising do YOU have to do?
Yeshua was a very humble man, yet he was able to tell the Pharisees how they were hurting the people and failing to live up to the responsibilities of their position. And he had the strength, both physically and spiritually, to undergo the torture he knew he had to face in order to fulfill his role as the Messiah.
Between Moses and Yeshua we have two really outstanding examples of humility that we can try to emulate in our own lives.
And one last thing to consider: God told us how important it is to him for us to be humble when, through the prophet Micah, he taught us this (Micah 6:8 NIV):
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
So the next time you are upset by someone saying something hateful to you, or insulting you, or repeating some stupid propaganda, try to remain calm, try to understand that what they are doing is most probably because they have no idea of what they are saying, probably trying to be accepted by others, and that whatever you feel you would like to do is not ever going to be anywhere as terrible as what will happen to them when they face God, if they do not repent.
You can try to teach them the truth, but in nearly every case I doubt you will make any progress, and probably end up being insulted even more. That’s when your inner strength, which comes from humility, will allow you to walk away.
Your other option is to face assault charges.
Thank you for being here and please remember to comment and share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.
That’s it for this week, so L’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!