It’s in Your Humility – Joel Osteen
We all have times when we know we’re supposed to do something but it doesn’t seem fair. It might be to forgive someone who did you wrong, or to help someone who never says thank you, or to honor your spouse’s repeated request to do something their way when you’d rather do it your way. Pride will cause you to only see things your way. Everything on the inside will say, “I’m not going to do it because they don’t deserve it.” But if you’re going to reach your highest potential, you have to humble yourself and do things you don’t understand.
In Luke 5, after Peter had fished all night and caught nothing, Jesus said to him, “Launch your boat into the deep and let down your nets.” Peter could have let pride talk him out of it and said, “Jesus, You’re a great teacher, but I’m an expert fisherman, and the fish are not there now.” Instead he humbled himself and said, “It doesn’t make sense to me, but at Your word I’m going to take this step of faith.” When he did, he caught so many fish that his nets began to break. His promotion was in his humility.
Living in Love: Look for the Best in Each Other – By Victoria Osteen
The Scripture says, “Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). Even Jesus had to humble Himself. It takes humility to walk in obedience. Without humility, Jesus could have thought, “I’m the Son of God. I don’t have to put up with the way people treat Me. I’m not going to the cross.” It was humility that caused Him to not retaliate against those who did Him wrong. Because of His humility, He could spend His life serving others when He had every right to be served. Because of His humility, He could hang on the cross and say, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
There are times when God asks us to do things that seem hard. Your flesh will rise up and tell you all the reasons why you should get even, why you don’t need to honor your spouse’s request, or why there’s no point in listening to someone’s opinion. That’s when you have to do as Jesus did and humble yourself so you can become obedient. You have to put your pride down and say, “No, I’m going to overlook their insult. I won’t demand that they do it my way. I’m not going to be too proud to admit I was wrong and ask for forgiveness.”
When you walk in humility and do what God is asking you to do, you’ll see promotion, healing in relationships, and breakthroughs to the next level. It’s in your humility.
By Joel Osteen