Posted at Reformation Scotland:
In a culture which celebrates self-promotion and self-congratulation, it can be difficult for the grace of humility to flourish. Even in the church there is a resistance to self-questioning and pride can manifest itself in subtle ways in our opinions and self-opinion. Comparing the greatness of our holy God with how small and sinful we are, the only wise response is to accept that pride has no place in our relationship with God, or indeed with each other. But it would be a mistake to think that we attain humility by harshly running ourselves down, or that true humility rejects the possibility of getting restoration and dignity from our kind Saviour. Instead humility has the wisdom to see things just the way that God sees them. William Guthrie was on the alert against various forms of warped thinking among the people he pastored. In the following updated extract from his preaching, William Guthrie shows that humility is wiser than to let itself be scared away from God, but that humbling ourselves to see things as God sees them has various advantages.The wisdom of humility
Discerns God’s ways
Although humility is prepared to come down very low and is very compliant with God’s will, yet it is most wise and sagacious in how it interprets all that God says or does to His people. Humility discerns that whatever God is doing, it is intended to save and not destroy His people. It discerns that all that God does is in order to bring them to Himself, and not to chase them away from Him.
Although humility is prepared to come down very low and is very compliant with God’s will, yet it is most wise and sagacious in how it interprets all that God says or does to His people. Humility discerns that whatever God is doing, it is intended to save and not destroy His people. It discerns that all that God does is in order to bring them to Himself, and not to chase them away from Him.
Reads the Bible sensitively
True humility is wise to distinguish between spiritual truths and what are called “canonical” truths. [Humility does not read the Bible and latch on to isolated words that seem to be discouraging.] Every word of Scripture taken by itself is not “canonical,” as we can see from how God said one place, “I will deliver you no more,” whereas He delivered them many a time after that. Another time Jesus said, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Can statements like these literally be called canonical? They must agree with other Scriptures, and with the analogy of faith. Every place of Scripture, taken by itself, cannot be called canonical, until it is compared with other Scriptures and the analogy of faith.