Being Childish In Attitude
"He called a little child to him and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:2-4).
We will be delivering a very brief but important article this week. Humility is not really an attitude that is innate to humans, the bible teaches us that it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). A brother in the Lord once shared with me that when he drove his daughter to school one morning, he gently corrected or rebuked his born-again daughter about something she did. Now according to the brother, his rebuke was not well received. While she (his daughter) didn't say anything to him, he could sense that she became angry, at that moment the Lord revealed to him that when a person gets upset or becomes angry for being corrected their attitudinal response is demonic (Galatians 5:20), but when a person's verbal or attitudinal response appears gentle they would have responded from the full conviction of the Holy Spirit (Acts 23:5).
How To Discern The Holy Spirit In a Believer
Often, it is very easy to observe the presence of the Holy Spirit in a person's life, not merely by what they say or their work in the ministry, but a humble attitude is easy to discern and God knows, the attitude of Christ shine through such a person (Philippians 2:5-11). Kindly allow me to share another testimony from a dear brother in Christ. Now, brother Joe shared with me a few years ago, how the Lord humbled which costs him his job after he elevated himself.
The Penalty For Self-Importance
As it was, about a 10-minute telephone conversation got our brother Joe hot under the collar, which resulted in a yelling and insulting match with neither party willing to back down. Our brother Joe recalled how that conversation transformed him into comparing his elevated job position to the one his 'foe' had, and when he realized later that their conversation was not private our brother Joe felt very ashamed and humiliated because of his behavior and attitude that he decided to resign with immediate effect. As a result of this folly, our brother Joe was unemployed for about two years before the Lord opened another door of employment for him. During that time of being unemployed, our brother Joe was saturated in debt and almost lost his family home. What a price he paid for being self-conceited!
Brethren, it is a serious matter, a Christian should never elevate him or herself, especially when working with non-Christians. Biblically, Haman the Agagite, who considered himself untouchable and who suffered from an obsessive self-love was not just humiliated, he was hanged on a gallows he built (Esther 5:11-15; 6:5-6; 7:9-10). In other words, he fell on his own sword. As a friendly warning, the Lord is not pleased with Christians who think they are better than others and a Christian who gets offended after being corrected shows no submission to the Holy Spirit who imparts conviction and humility in us (Romans 8:14). The Bible says we grieve the Holy Spirit and our disobedience to His convictions is only inviting wrath from God and ultimately as we disobey so do we receive evil spirits which alter our attitudes (1 Samuel 6:14).
In conclusion, let us thus be careful and humble ourselves by accepting the redemptive guidance of the Holy Spirit who is God's seal upon our lives (Ephesians 1:13).
Blessed Grace
Brother Glenn
