No ministry or local church has it all. No one has a corner on the truth and no one has arrived. No one ministry or local church is God’s only instrument or the one true church. We are all parts of the body of Christ, which is made up of every Christian and every church that declares Jesus Christ as Lord. Each one of us is special and unique, but we also need to value the uniqueness of others.
Humility demands that we have a sober or balanced view of ourselves. We must not think of ourselves more highly than we should (Romans 12:3). Each individual ministry or church is only a part of what God is doing. We all need each other. The Great Commission is too big for any one of us to fulfil. We need all churches and all Christian ministries working together to achieve God’s purposes.
Praise God for the huge variety and diversity of ministries He is using today. We can learn from each one of them. God is delighted when we embrace a teachable attitude that refuses to become comfortable but seeks to keep learning and growing.
The book of Proverbs tells us that a mark of wisdom and maturity is a willingness to listen and learn from others (Proverbs 9:9; 12:15).
God hates pride (Proverbs 6:16-17. James 4:6-7). Pride goes before a fall and any ministry or local church that thinks of itself too highly sets itself up for self-destruction. Let’s clothe ourselves with an attitude of humility.
We just had our lifegroup last night, and interestingly, we discussed about humility too…
i’m just amazed by how God would confirm if i was on a right track, thank you Lord. i must say picking a bible study topic is not that easy, at least for me.
Mark, we are in the middle of a new church plant, and we are getting to know many other wonderful leaders in the community. Some are further along than we are, and others are groping for direction.
I have to discipline myself to have the right attitude so I will feel neither inferior nor superior at times. As I have meditated on the root of the sin that you are addressing I have come to learn that it is because we see the church as many bodies when it is actually one.
I now see myself as a part of every work. If a church is father along than me I can freely rejoice in God’s kingdom. I can then learn. If a church is in need I can bless it while knowing that by helping them I help us all. If I say or do anything to hurt it then I hurt us all. Thanks for the good word.