Once I attended a church in downtown Washington, DC, right in an area there were a lot of street people.  Almost every Sunday, a few of them would come into the church and sit in the back pews and watch the service. They were scary people, because they were toothless and dirty and they hadn’t bathe or changed clothes in months; but they were harmless because they were severely withdrawn.

One day a bearded old filthy man came into the church. He looked like the picture of Abraham in my old Bible, and if you got within a couple of yards of him, your nose would suspect he might really be that old.

You see, on that fateful Sunday, he did not sit in the back pew, he sat right smack in the middle of our squeaky clean congregation, in the midst of our refined and sensitive noses! We had learned not to fear these people, but this day we made an exception when right in the middle of the sermon he began shouting Hallelujah! Glory to the Lamb! And other such things. Then he began to preach to us, confirming what the pastor had said in the sermon, quoting the Bible from memory.

The pastor was clearly terrified during this ordeal. The whole church service had gotten out of control, and he didn’t know what to do. Neither did we! But after the patriarch had finished, he departed while calling down blessings on us all. We sat there in shame, condemned by our expectations of chaos and the blessings we had received instead.

Well, now I understand the reaction to the blind beggar at Jericho, shouting out to Jesus from the crowd for mercy. It was a formal occasion, the town was welcoming a famous figure, and the blind man was ruining the show. They told him to shut up and mind his manners

But Jesus singled out the man, and asked him what he wanted. Then, He healed the man’s blindness. However, Jesus didn’t heal the blindness of the crowd who tried to restrain him.

Son of David, have mercy upon us; give us our sight!

Why is it important that we learn about pride and humility? Because humility is a prerequisite for receiving any benefits from Christ. Here is the same truth in the negative: pride is a barrier to receiving any benefits from Christ. Pride is that cork in the bottle under the waterfall of grace. It keeps the grace from entering. Humility is admitting you are needy, removing the cork.

The proud love to be accommodated by the best – the gourmet meal, the VIP treatment. Leftovers would be an insult. On the other hand, humble starving souls long for crumbs off the table, or under the table. Not a crumb is wasted on the humble. Humility is a prerequisite for receiving benefits from Christ.

God will test the humility of His servants:

• Adam’s first test was a test of humility. Will he believe God, or will he assert himself to gain what he perceives as greatness – becoming like God Himself by eating of the forbidden fruit?
• Jesus’ humility was tested in the wilderness for 40 days before His mission. Will He go the way of humility or will He assert Himself as king?
• Moses’ humility was tested in the desert 40 years before he came to the burning bush.
• Paul’s faith was tested by his “thorn in the flesh” and the lesson he learned was to see his weakness as his strength. It forced him to depend upon God.
• Every man’s faith will be tested to see if we depend upon ourselves or upon God. This is the test of humility. The Gospel itself is a test of humility. Will we trust God for salvation, or believe we are good enough to stand before God on judgment day?

Humility has such a practical side to it. It is so mundane. It shows up in the little things. In a marriage relationship, it is humility that helps us to admit we are wrong. It is also humility that makes us easier to live with when we are right.

Knowing God makes us humble; knowing ourselves keeps us humble. True humility is not looking down on yourself but looking up to Christ.

Before God exalts a person, He humbles him. If you want that process to be less painful, humble yourself before God so He doesn’t have to humiliate you.

(JIM HAMMOND)