Humility in the Pain

When you think of humility, you often think of someone who is prideful and needs to think about themselves less.

In sports, pride is a prevalent trait among athletes. Have you ever thought about being humble as a call to lift yourself from a position of self-loathing? This is the side of athletes we often don’t see, the slumps and internal battle when you’re not performing well.

1 Peter 5:6-7 is a call to remember where your identity lies, not with your performance but with the God who created you. Often, when you are in a slump, you can start thinking negatively about yourself. If your struggles continue long enough, they may affect how you view yourself and your worth. The call to humble yourself, in this case, wouldn’t be to decrease your pride in your abilities but pride in your inabilities.

Pride isn’t just for when you are performing well; you can be prideful in your faults to where the humility you need is to be reminded that your ability doesn’t define you, no matter if that is a good ability or a poor one.

In a season when self-depreciation is your anthem, you must be reminded that Christ is the only One who can genuinely exalt you or lift you up. To humble yourself would be to know that even in your worst earthly state, you are still a son and daughter of Christ. It’s the knowledge that God still cares for you no matter how you perform.

Whether you struggle with pride because of your ability to perform well or your struggles, we are called to humble ourselves under the identity of Christ so that in His time, we are lifted high in His name and not our own.