Practices of Godliness Part 1: Humility, Contentment, Thankfulness

from Jerry Bridges...Pursuit of Godliness

HUMILITY:

"Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." -Luke 18:14

God commands, commends and delights in humility. He doesn't only commend it but He gives us our picture perfect example in His Son. Philippians 2:8 "And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himself, and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!" If we are questioning whether or not humility is technically a "God-like" trait we can't question that it is a "Christ-like" trait. And if we are to be imitators of Him then we too must possess it. "Humility opens the way to all other godly character traits. It is the soil in which the other traits of the fruit of the Spirit grow". We are to be humble towards God, His Word, in trials and blessings, in our ambitions and our achievements and towards other people.

Humility Before God
It begins here with a high view of who God is. "When we are conscious of our sinful creature relationship to an infinitely majestic and holy God we will not wish to selfishly compare ourselves with others. And to the extent that our awareness of our lovely place before God is an abiding one, we will avoid temptation of pride and competition."

In being humble before God it also encompasses a humility before His Word. As we are in the Word we must allow them to to search us as we sit in judgment upon our character and conduct. "The Bible was given not just to increase our knowledge but to guide our conduct. Far too often we approach the Bible just to increase our knowledge of the facts of the Bible. We do need to increase our spiritual knowledge, but it should be for the purpose of obeying God's will."

When we are truly humble before Him we are also humble about our gifts, abilities, and achievements/attainments. Paul never compared himself favorably against the unbelievers. "Our attitude of humility in regard to our salvation should carry over to a recognition that any of our abilities and achievements are equally a result of God's grace". Paul even credited His hard work to the grace of God!!

Humility is also expressed in our submission to others. When we submit to others we are teachable and humble when confronted with sin and corrected. This is obviously something that we as humans struggle with in our pride. But we must remember that the Spirit doesn't make us humble but enables us to humble ourselves. One great way to show humility to others is by serving them. We read in 1 Peter 4:11 that we are to draw from God's strength in serving others. We must also honor one another which means putting them in front of ourselves...in position, concerns and needs.

Humility is learned and we can remember that we get our enabling power from Him alone. We must start practicing humility by renewing our mind, memorizing and meditating on Scripture, confessing our prideful ways and taking specific steps in order to obey God's direction in humbling ourselves.

CONTENTMENT

"Godliness with contentment is great gain" -1 Timothy 6:6

Contentment is a rare character traits, but it is one that is unique to the Godly person because there heart is focused on God and nothing else. Contentment in our dictionary actually means "sufficiency". A person who is content experiences God's provision for His needs and His grace for ALL his circumstances.

Do you realize the very first temptation was to be discontent? Satan in the garden questioned God's goodness. Satan did the same thing with Jesus in the wilderness and how often does he do that to you? Does he make you question that because of your circumstances that God somehow is absent? Scripture compels us that we are to be content based solely on God's promise to provide for us and on nothing this world has to offer.

Loving the things of this world is something that God takes very seriously. In fact God's judgment was brought down many times throughout the course of history on those who loved the world more than Him. John says plainly that if anyone loves the world that the love of the Father isn't in him. "CONTENTMENT IS VITAL TO OUR SPIRITUAL HEALTH". It is however only by the Spirit that we can gain this contentment. We need to pray for it (Psalm 119:36-37) and meditate on Scripture. We also need to..

1. Remember Your Focus Should be on the TRUE values of life- eternal life
2. Service to God through serving mankind is the only motivation acceptable to God for diligence and hardwork in our vocational calling.
3.All that we have comes from God and is a result of His grace.
4. God in His sovereign good pleasure has seen fit to give some people more wealth and possessions than others
5. For those whom God has blessed with wealth or an abundance of possessions...with privilege comes responsibility.

We need to concentrate on being content in ALL circumstances and remember that our goal is living lives that please God. Paul said in Philippians 4:11 that he had learned the secret of contentment. We live in a sin cursed world and therefore we bear the results of that often in our own lives. Yet as Christians we believe that all of our circumstances come not by chance by by the sovereign hand of a faithful and good God. Do you remember Paul's thorn in the flesh?? But after pleading three times for it to be removed God reminded Paul that "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness". THAT WAS THE SECRET! God's grace is sufficient whatever the circumstance.

"So the secret to being content is to learn and accept that we live daily by God's unmerited favor given through Christ and that we can respond to any and every situation by His divine enablement through the Holy Spirit".

GOD IS
IM HIS
HE'S MINE
ALL'S FINE

THANKFULNESS

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;his faithfulness continues through all generations." -Psalm 100:4-5

Thankfulness is realizing and a recognition of who God is and that He has provided for us both spiritually and physically. Failing to give God thanks is a terrible sin!! But how often do we pray for something and never thank the Lord for it? We are quick to ask and anxious to receive but reluctant and forgetful to render thanks. And God is aware of us neglecting to do so. We should be overflowing with thanksgiving. "Thanksgiving is a normal result of a vital union with Christ and a direct measure of the extent to which we are experiencing the reality of that union in our daily lives."

But what is the purpose of giving thanks you might add? Well the most important purpose, the primary reason is TO ACKNOWLEDGE HIS GOODNESS AND HONOR HIM! Psalm 50:23 says, "He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me,and he prepares the way
so that I may show him the salvation of God." He is SO worthy of all of our praise and our thanks because he has blessed us with EVERYTHING we need here on earth and every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

1. Thanksgiving not only promotes the glory of God but humility within us.
2. Thanksgiving stimulates our faith.
3. Thanksgiving promotes contentment.

How do I even cultivate that kind of heart you might ask? Well, the foundation is a life that is lived in fellowship with Christ. We know that it is only through the enabling of the SPirit that we can have a thankful heart, but we must remember it takes effort on our part too. When we wake up in the morning we can thank God for His love which we have throughout the day and at the end of the day thank Him for specific demonstrations of His faithfulness throughout our day!

Sometimes it may help to write down our prayer requests and that way we can see over time how God has answered those looking back, another idea is a list of everything you have to be thankful for and go over that list a few days a week. We need to set aside a specific time when all we do is just give God thanks for who He is and all He has blessed us with!

"When we pray without giving thanks we impoverish our own souls and render our prayers ineffective. An ungrateful heart must be transformed by the renewal of the mind. This transformation in ts the work of the Spirit as we fill our minds with teh Word of God."


So three traits of godliness: humility, contentment and thankfulness, that we as believers need to practice in our lives. All will set us apart from this world which is our goal that we may be holy and set apart for Him and bring Him glory in all we do!!