Check your ego at the door...

Humility...

Practically nonexistent in our culture. I mean, the more money, cars, women, shoes, clothes, chains, grills and diamonds you have in the hip-hop world, the more you have the "right" to brag. And, you should brag. And, you're supposed to brag. And, the more you brag, the more respect you get. But, that respect is more like jealousy -- jealousy which results in "haters" or jealousy which results in people wanting to latch onto your star and use you for their own gain. Thus, the more famous you become, the less people you can trust... So, why were you bragging again??? Nothing good comes from it. Apes running around the jungle beating their breasts to outdo each other. We've come so far to have gotten nowhere...

And, before you think the hip-hop world is simply a sub-culture with extreme ways of acting-out, take a look around your world...businesses, churches, governments, schools...teachers, preachers, politicians, physicians... It's everywhere. Ego run amuck.

So, what's the big deal? What's wrong with a little ego? I mean, isn't self-confidence important? Don't we want our children to feel empowered? Don't we want them to feel they can be the "best"?

Ego and bravado are very different from self-confidence and empowerment. And, sure, Noah was the "best" vineyard grower...until his family were no longer the only ones alive on the planet after the flood! There is no such thing as the "best" singer, the "best" athlete, the "best" surgeon, the "best" pastor, the "best" artist, the "best" musician, the "best" gardener, the "best" teacher, the "best" anything... The only "best" you can strive to be is the best YOU. The only "best" I can strive to be is the best ME.

We all have abilities. Gifts. Talents. Things we can do well. Things we can do better than someone else can do them. But, we are not the only ones with those particular talents. Many people have the same talent, the same or similar ability. Some abilities even number into the thousands of people who can do them well... So, why then do we allow our egos to tell us we are in competition with one another? And, on the flip side, someone else can do some things better than we can, so why do we allow our egos to tell us we're worthless because we can't do what that person can? Take it a step further -- many people share the same talent but with differences within that talent. Why would we think ourselves better or lesser simply because our ability is different.

Take singing, for instance -- a subject close to home for me, being one of my talents. How utterly ridiculous would it be for me to believe myself the "best" singer in the world, considering people who have the ability to sing likely numbers into the millions? Conversely, how utterly ridiculous would it be for me to think I have no place to use my singing ability since there are likely millions of other people who can sing in the world? Both scenarios are ludicrous. And yet, that is what we do. In an instant, we are jealous of each other, comparing ourselves, allowing ego to control us, and in the end, to destroy our ability to use our talents in the way God intended.

God is the author of our abilities, the giver of the talents, so he must have had an intention when he gave them...

Our gifts were given to us to share with others, to bless those around us, to help someone else, to be used to make the world a better place. Our gifts were not given to us for the purpose of making us feel we are somehow better or more special than someone else.

I was not given the ability to sing because I am special in some way. I was not given the ability to sing because I "deserve" it. I was given the ability to sing so that I, along with millions of other people, could figure out ways to use it to help someone else, to bless others, to make the world a better place... There is no "good", "better", "best" on God's talent scale. It's more like -- "those who effectively share what they've been given" and "those who let ego render useless what they've been given".

If anyone was the "best", it was Jesus Christ. And he, in every way, was humble. He was born in a tiny nothing town, to a girl no one knew. There was no golden halo circling his head, no royal welcome. His birth was not announced to the leaders of the day, but instead, to those society considered the lowliest, as well as to those who were studying, questioning, searching for answers... He lived a quiet life, and when finally he did begin to show who he was to people, he never sought fame or what society considered important places of leadership. His closest followers didn't even understand his humility, for they tried to convince him he deserved to be a king on this earth. When those closest to him should have been washing the dust off his feet, as was the custom in those days, he was instead washing theirs. The ultimate leader was the ultimate servant. He who had all the talent, he who could have bragged the most, he who could have strutted around like he owned the world -- because he actually did -- he "took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being...he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross." (Philippians 2:7-8 NLT)

Humility...

Why is it so important?

Because, without humility, we cannot share our talents and bless others with them in the ways the one who gave them to us intended. Humility allows others to receive what we have to share. Humility breaks down jealousy and envy. Humility melts the hearts of those who need to receive what we have to share. And that is the point. Someone needs to be the recipient of your talent. Not so they can be amazed by how great YOU are, but so they can be amazed by how great GOD is...

Don't let your ego render you useless in God's kingdom -- a kingdom set up with an entirely different set of scales.


c2009 Lorenda Houston