If you want to grow in humility get ready to eat a lot of humble pie.

Throughout scripture we are repeatedly called to be humble in nature. Humility is a clear characteristic of God Himself. As Christians, we are called to emulate this.

But growing in humility is not easy.

If you ask God to make you humble, He will. God will root out pride, but that is a very uncomfortable feeling. For humans who love to idolize ourselves, breaking down that glorification of self feels deeply unpleasant. We hate it. But just because we hate it doesn’t mean it isn’t the right thing to do.

Often times doing the right thing is uncomfortable, because in our nature we are sinful and corrupt. We want what we want and we chase that. We seek to comfort and coddle ourselves. We put ourselves in situations where we will feel better and we love to feed our egos.

As prideful humans one of the most ironic realities is how much we hate being faced with our own pride. When someone calls it out, our pride likes to hide itself behind indignation. We love to think of ourselves as better than we are.

This year I have had to eat a lot of humble pride. It hasn’t felt good. I haven’t wanted to own up to some of my decisions and their consequences. I know that even though I might be pursuing humility does not mean everyone I interact with will be chasing that as well. But my choice to pursue humility does not get to be dependent on what response I get. I am called to and convicted to pursue growing in humility whether or not others are. So often we like to let ourselves off the hook by comparing ourselves to others, but that is just another way we excuse our own pride. Who you want to be cannot be dependent on who others choose to be. As Christians we are called to grow more like Jesus. We aren’t called to “sometimes grow more like Jesus if your friends are”.

If you ask God to change you He will, but be prepared that it won’t be pain free. Ripping out our roots of sin isn’t like dusting, it is a deep tearing away of what we value.