HUMILITY | Apr 7-13, 2025

To catch up with our Lent journey, check out this post that explains our practice.

Pride is a master of deception. It can show up in many ways for different people. For some, pride presents itself as arrogance and an overabundance of confidence. For others, it may show up in the complete opposite way; a way that looks like humility, but really, it’s just us holding ourselves to higher standards than everyone else. Or it may arrive as a need to control everything, or to do everything, or to be everything.

In the story of Adam and Eve in the garden, they were created to be who they were; loved children of God, created to be in relationship with him, and to steward God’s created order. But through deception, pride crept its way in. They decided they wanted to be more than what God created them for. Instead of humbly accepting their limits and acknowledging God’s authority, they chose to try to be something more than they were created to be.

Lots of us find ourselves in this story today. While I’m sure that many of us are not currently living in a garden with talking snakes, pride sneaks its way into our lives as it did with Adam and Eve. Pride can cause many symptoms (many that we see in this story)- guilt, shame, entitlement, fear, burnout, stress, and death. A death to self. A death to our limits. A death to who we were created to be.

But Genesis teaches us that embracing humility is actually a gift to ourselves and others. Humility does not mean to think that you are less than others. Humility is to walk in a way that acknowledges our limits, acknowledges who God created us to be, and acknowledges who God created others to be.

I get it. Many of us feel like we have to be everything for everyone. That if we aren’t, the world will fall apart. But God calls us to surrender that pride and to embrace humility, because this humility helps us live in, and invite others into, the fullness of life that Jesus desires for everyone.

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READ

Genesis 2-3

REFLECT

Invite the Holy Spirit into your reflections and welcome the voice of Jesus to help you answer these questions.

1. How is the fear of death showing up in my life as pride?

2. What lies am I believing about myself, others, or God that contribute to this fear?

RESPOND

Jesus, I surrender pride to you and agree that humility is the better pathway to life in you.

I renounce the lie that _____________________________________.

Now, choose repentance by turning toward God.

Today I choose to turn away from pride and turn toward humility.

Walk in repentance by turning towards others.

Jesus, who is someone that has been affected by the ways that pride has expressed itself in my life? How can I be a person of life towards them by walking in humility?

RECEIVE

Spend some time listening for the voice of Jesus and receiving his mercy and grace.

What gifts of life do you want to give me in exchange for the fear of death that causes me to turn to pride to feel safe?

FAST

As a way of living into your repentance, consider fasting from pride this week by embracing Sabbath. Take a break from the work and demands that bring you a sense of pride and purpose, and instead, take a true Sabbath, and invite Jesus to reveal his true character and love for you.