Humiliation

Do you know the difference between "humility" and "humiliation"?

Humility is the tax collector in parable Jesus tells about the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:13. While the Pharisee was praying, he thanked God that the he was not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or the evil tax collector. The tax collector, on the other hand, ...stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God have mercy on me, a sinner. Luke 18:13

Humility is standing alone before God, convicted of our sins and sorrowful of our actions. It is the recognition that apart from the love and grace of God we really are only worth the $4.50 sum of the value of the minerals in our body. (OK, that number is negotiable depending upon the current rate of exchange on specific minerals, but you get the point.) The Holy Spirit's conviction and the gift of repentance enable us to return to right relationship with the Lord, regardless of the magnitude of our sins.

Humiliation, on the other hand in when you read about your sin on the front page of the newspaper or see it on the evening news. Rather than conviction, you feel ashamed of your behavior and betrayed by the one who "outed" you. Instead of sorrow, humiliation generally drives people to damage control of the situation, denial or shifting blame.

It is a wonderful thing that the Lord will generally give us a private opportunity to repent of our sins and get back into right relationship. However, failure to listen to that still small voice results in more drastic measures being taken. God's desire is for us to be in right relationship with Him. He will even use the gift of humiliation to get our attention.

As I used to tell my children, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. But, we are going to do it."

Lord, thank you for the conviction of the Holy Spirit and for the gift of repentance. Make me quick to hear and swift to take actions on those issues in my life which are not pleasing to you.