Somebody once said that the only difference between “runing” your life and “ruining” your life is the letter I. That is to say, in running the Christian race, there is no room for I (self): When self tries to run my life, it ends in ruin. Get rid of self and surrender to God so that He, the Ancient of Days and the great I Am, may run your life.
Because it sounds like one of those catchy soundbites, we might be inclined to gloss over it, but it is another way of echoing a profound Biblical concept, and it is this: When you have faith, you absolutely must be humble. Now, not all humble people have faith, but the opposite is a positive necessity. I shall endeavour to explain.
“The just shall live by faith.” Many of us know and highly prize this phrase. Let’s take a close look at the source in its entirety: “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4 – NKJV) We have a juxtaposition between pride & not being upright, versus being just and living by faith: The proud person does not have an upright soul, while the just person lives by faith. Observe that one who is proud is neither just nor does s/he have faith. This makes sense, since we know that we are justified by faith (Romans 3:28 and others), and thus if a person does not have faith, then they won’t be just either. The second observation is implied: By way of contrast, the person who lives by faith is not proud.
Why is this? Let’s look at some Biblical examples to demonstrate how faith and humility are as perfectly matched as were Paul and Barnabas. First is Luke 5:1-11. This is the account where Jesus tells the dismayed fishermen to launch out into the deep and let down their nets (again) for a catch. Verse 5 records Peter’s response: “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” While it seems that Peter obeyed somewhat reluctantly, he nonetheless acted on the command of Christ. He could have argued with Jesus based on the previous night’s results, as well his lifelong experience as a fisherman – in fact, that would have been perfectly reasonable! But instead, he submitted his will to the Lord. That demands humility.
Our second case comes from Luke 15:21-28. Here, Jesus is dogged by a gentile woman who wants the Lord to save her daughter from demon possession. The Master’s response includes ignoring her, telling her that He was not sent to aid gentiles but Israel, and calling her a dog. How does she react to this triplet of insults? She turns the other cheek. More than that, she continues to hound Him, saying that even the scraps of grace are sufficient for her. That demands great humility. In the end, she is one of an elite few commended by Christ for their “great” faith.
From these accounts we glean that faith endures correction, delay, disappointment, insult… The list may be expanded, but we’ll limit it to these. The point is that faith takes it on the chin, and ideally, it does so nobly. This is only possible in the heart of one who has a humble spirit. Faith begets humility and subdues pride.
We need to perform some very careful introspection. I may call myself a Christian, but if I have pride, then I may very well be a false one, either because I’m deceived into that condition, or because I’m blind to it. Before you indignantly absolve yourself from the guilt of pride, remember what we just learned: Pride is not just seen in boasting or arrogance, but in stubbornly standing one’s ground when corrected, impatience, spitefulness and retaliation; yes, even indignation. How is your score card looking now? If you’re remotely like me, not so great, I imagine…
Do not despair, however. One of the many facets of faith is that it is tenacious. It is not phased by daunting circumstance (Romans 4:19-21), nor does it draw back when under attack (Hebrews 10:35-39). Be like that gentile woman who dogs Jesus’ every step, and like Jacob who keeps wrestling and does not let go until the blessing is received. “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed — always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10)