The Ego Challenge

 

Less Ego and More Humility

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” James 4:10

Ego is truly an enemy in our lives. Ego seeks to elevate us above others. Ego convinces us that we need to be right and get our way. Ego keeps us from asking for forgiveness when we have wronged others. Ego keeps us from forgiving those who have hurt us. Ego causes us to compete with those we ought to be cooperating with. Ego drives our need to put others down so that we can be elevated. Ego causes us to project an image to the public that is not the real us. We want to look better than we are so we hide our weaknesses and fears, pretend we are better than we are and present a false self rather than our real self.

We are learning in this series that less can be more. This is very true when it comes to our egos. In fact, a life anchored in Jesus has nothing to prove, nothing to lose and nothing to hide. If I have something to prove I am playing to my ego. If I have something to lose, it is my pride. If I have something to hide it is my desire to look better than I am. In Jesus we don’t have to hide or pretend or compete. We can just be ourselves and live in humility knowing that we are complete and accepted by Him. 

Humility is understanding who we are, our strengths and our weaknesses and not needing to make ourselves look better or hide the real us. In Romans 12:3, Paul writes this: “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”  

Here is why humility ought to be central in our lives. Our strengths and gifts were given to us by God. We are simply stewards of what He has given. Remember, life is not about us but about Him and the strengths He has given to each of us are designed to be used for His purposes, not to make us look good. Here is the irony of ego in God’s kingdom. Humility is a sign of strength while ego is actually a sign of weakness.  

But there is more. Ego is all about drawing attention to ourselves while humility is about caring about others and their needs. The more pride I live with, the more I will neglect both God and others. After all, ego is all about me. Not Jesus, not others, but me. Humility allows us to place our dependence on Him and serve others because we see them as women and men and children made in God’s image. Seen in this light, ego is the enemy of a life anchored in Jesus which is about Him and others rather than a life that revolves around me.

Solomon spoke to the issue of pride and humility in Proverbs 3:5-8. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.” 

Can you remember a time when you were wise in your own eyes and rather than trusting God, you did your own thing and ended up in the ditch? It can happen in our finances, our marriages, our relationships and in any arena of life. We often spend a great deal of our lives trying to fix what we got wrong because we trusted in our wisdom rather than in God’s. Less ego and more humility, faith, and dependence is a sign of a disciple of Jesus. 

Think about the benefits of humility:

• With humility I can forgive others because I don’t need to hold an offense
• With humility I can reconcile broken relationships rather than live in conflict
• In humility I can choose to follow God’s way rather than my way
• In humility I can live with nothing to prove, nothing to lose and nothing to hide
• With humility I don’t need to get my way
• With humility I don’t need to have all the answers
• With humility I can be far more attentive to the needs of others
• With humility I don’t need to lift myself up by putting others down

You can see how ego and pride are intertwined with our lives, words, motives and decisions. Jesus asks us to lay it all down and to choose a life of humility. As James says, as we humble ourselves before the Lord, He lifts us up. Subversively, the way up is actually the way down. 

Humility is one of the beautiful descriptors of Jesus. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says this: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Did you catch what He said? “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.” Jesus was a subversive force and calls us to the same. One would think that pride, ego and power are the way to significance but Jesus, turning conventional wisdom on its head says no: humility is. Less of us and more of Him leads to less ego and more humility. Again, less is more. A life anchored in Jesus has nothing to prove, nothing to lose and nothing to hide. It is a life of humble dependence on the father with a concern for those around us. That is the way to significance in the Kingdom. That is freedom.

Father, I invite your Holy Spirit to convict me where my ego gets in the way of my followership. Remind me when I choose my way over your way or live with something to prove, something to lose and something to hide. Amen.

The question to consider today: Are there areas where I need to lay down my ego and choose humility and dependence?