Lauren Sparks

The Sparks Notes

Getting Schooled on Humility

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I was listening to a podcast yesterday, as humble as can be, when I was forced to admit that I really didn’t understand humility.  The previously recorded lesson from the high school minister at my church (yes, I listen to sessions for the youth group because this guy can PREACH), was actually about Living for Jesus – not humility.  And yet God showed me what He wanted me to see.  I LOVE it when He does that.

I heard the words of Philippians 2:3.  “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;”  Now, for the sake of my point, I’m going to ignore the first 4 words.  I mean, who can successfully do NOTHING from selfishness.  I think it would be safe to say that unselfishness will take a lifetime of practicing for all of us.  (At least I don’t think it’s just me).  But looking at the rest of the verse, I believe I could humbly say that I’ve got this humility thing in the bag!  I mean, there isn’t a conceited bone in my body.  All that and a bag of chips?  How about the 5 bags of chips I have eaten this week while supposedly on a diet (I mean, “healthy lifestyle plan”).  And how about when I yelled at my daughter this morning.  And how about the messiness of some of my relationships?  If I should brag about anything, it might be that I am the world’s BEST at dissing myself.  I have no delusions of grandeur.  It’s an extremely rare occurrence when I EVER compare myself to someone else and declare that I am the winner!  That just doesn’t happen.  So I’m feeling OK about this whole “humility thing”.  Moving on to verse 4 of Philippians Chapter 2.  “do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”  Huh.  That doesn’t seem so tough.  I intercede for others in prayer.   I do a LOT for my kids.  I try to pick out thoughtful gifts for birthdays and Christmas.  I volunteer at church and in the community.  I do my best to attend to my husband’s needs.  And the verse doesn’t say I CAN’T look out for me.  It just says I have to INCLUDE others.  I was feeling pretty good about this as well, UNTIL…

God challenged me to put that passage to the test by combining the two ideas from those verses.  So the way I read verse 3 was, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another’s interests as more important than your own.”  What if I didn’t just CONSIDER the interests of my friends, family and acquaintances, but prioritized them above me own.  Whoa.  It just got real up in here.  That commandment just went from somewhat vague to very specific.  Now, please hear me say that I don’t believe for a second that God’s Word needs to be altered.  And even if it did, I am certainly not qualified.  But I simply felt, in that moment, God nudging me to dig deeper into what “regarding one another as more important than yourselves” really means.  To take the concept of “humility” and put legs to it.  I mean, I enjoy meeting the needs of others – when it’s not TOO inconvenient for me.  When it fits in my schedule.  But, what would it look like if I not only THOUGHT you were more important than me, but put actions behind it?  Praying for a friend’s crisis could take priority over those few extra minutes of sleep in the morning.  Reading a book with my child might delay catching up with the latest episode of Downton Abby (that one stung a little to type).  I could save the money I use to get my nails done and help sponsor a missionary or a child thru Compassion Intl.  I wouldn’t hesitate to cook a meal for an injured friend – even if it meant an extra trip to the grocery store this week.  Humility might start to look like changing plans, rearranging schedules or even rebudgeting (is that a word?).

How much more would I look like Jesus if what I want truly became secondary to what others want? What kind of love would the world see?  It is blowing my mind to think about it.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  Col 3:12 NIV (All other references are from the NASB)

How Jealousy, Pride, a Toilet and Jewelry All Go Together

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Do you see this?

This is my husbands solution to my costume jewelry storage.  What you see here is only my necklaces and a few bracelets.  Everything else – rings, broaches, bracelets, earrings and anything of real value – are in a stand up jewelry armoire.  But that armoire was no match for my necklace collection.  So it hangs in my tiny little “water closet” across from the toilet on a double towel bar.  The hooks are intended for shower curtains so they slide easily from side to side.   With this arrangement, I can see all of my inventory and quickly (sometimes) decide what piece will best compliment my attire for the day.  
Now I know, of the 6 of you who normally read my blog, some of you will be appalled at my obsession and the amount of money I have probably spent to amass this collection.  And some of you are amazed at this stroke of brilliance and can’t wait to install your own.  And you didn’t even have to troll Pinterest all afternoon for the idea!  I, myself, am a little embarrassed to let my addiction out of the “water closet”, but I promise I have a tie-in.  
The pastor of the church I attend spoke today on jealousy.  He gave a biblical definition of “jealous” as “to have a strong desire”.  I decided to look it up on dictionary.com and found 6 definitions.  I won’t bore you with all of them here, but I did find it interesting that 3 of the 6 had to do with “rivalry”.  Those are the definitions that pierce my heart.  Insecurity, comparison – how I struggle with these.  
As I listened to the sermon, I kept thinking of the word pride.  I believe it’s so closely related to jealousy.  I used dictionary.com again to look up “pride”.  The first definition – “a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority…”  I struggle more with low self-esteem that I do an inflated sense of importance, so if I stopped right there, I might be able to get away with thinking that pride was not an issue for me.  (Which I guess is, in itself, prideful).  But then I read definition number 3 – “a…sense of what is due to oneself or one’s position or character…”.  Whew.  This is where Ricky Ricardo would say, I got some “splainin” to do.  The most convicting part of today’s sermon for me was when Pastor Ross spoke of jealousy this way:  “At the end of the day, it’s not about me and another person.  It’s that I believe God owes me.”  That sounds like a direct link between jealousy and pride by definition number 3!  When I am jealous of someone else’s money, I am – in essence – believing that God owes me that money!  And when I am envious of someone else’s job, I am believing that God owes me that job!  How arrogant of me.  How prideful.  
Psalm 73:6 says, “They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty.”  NLT THIS made me think of my jewelry collection.  When I sit in jealousy, when I indulge in comparison I think no one can see it.  I think of it as a secret sin.  I mistakenly believe that no one can see the darkness of my heart.  But in truth, I wear those attitudes like I would wear the red beads in the picture above.  I wear them CLOSE to my heart, but they are right out front for all to see.  Because when I wear that pride, I am choosing not to love.  And it’s not fooling anyone.  The verse takes it even further.  Not only am I not loving.  I am being cruel.  That’s the last thing I want to be.  
Today I’m coming out of the “water closet” and into the prayer closet.  I’m seeking God’s forgiveness for pride, jealousy and comparison.  I’m asking him to kill those things in me and replace them with true humility, love and joy.  Please pray for me in this.  What secret sin do you need to bring into the prayer closet?  Comment below.  I would love the opportunity to pray for you.

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