“So much of self is involved in what we do here; but one day, in Christ, we will have perfect love.”-Billy Graham

I believe some of the best conversations happen during lunch time.

There’s something about sharing life’s happenings, over a good meal or just sharing any type of life experience all in the short time of an hour.

Lately, because of the people I’ve been going to lunch with, those seemingly small conversations have been so motivating and inspiring.

We can never underestimate the power of having people in our lives who genuinely desire to see us do better, speak truth, correct us in love and grow into the potential that God has for us.

One lunch conversation lately with my friend (I’m going to say her name is T here), has been exactly that. This conversation has led to me thinking about what it truly means to be humble.

“What has God called you to do?”

Although this question might be somewhat cliché to hear in church or Christian environments, her question startled me. After sharing a somewhat shorter version of my testimony and why I was doing the internship at Mainstream Orlando, noticing my nervousness and somewhat discomfort; with eyes of discernment and wisdom she gently asked this question that I know I will never forget.

“How can we say we believe in God, who we haven’t visibly seen yet, and also not believe in yourself, who’s visibly here?”

Her question sounds somewhat harsh, but it challenged me in the best way. In that moment I realized that I had a skewed view of the definition of humility.

I questioned what it meant to be humble because of her question for a variety of reasons: a  belief that it was prideful to believe in myself, memories of false humility, as well as concern about being self-absorbed as a follower of Christ.

But, as preacher Kenneth Hart once said, “Humility is not denying our strengths, but being honest about our weaknesses.” I use to think that humility meant to not fully accept any type of attention and to deny accomplishments but I was so wrong.

While it is true that as Christ followers we are instructed not to be self-serving and to “clothe ourselves in humility”, believing that we are capable of fulfilling God’s call over our lives, such as going on that mission trip, or filling out that application, all to bring Him the true glory, requires both faith in God that He would fulfill his promises and faith that He would use imperfect people like us to do so also.

In our culture today, it can be easy to login on social media and see “humble brag” (Humble brag (def.)- “an ostensibly modest or self-deprecating statement whose actual purpose is to draw attention to something of which one is proud”) and have a confused view of what it means to be humble. But I’m thankful that, as Jesus says to us in John 15,  as long as we remain in him, as he remains in us, we will be able to bear much fruit for his kingdom

– Ligia Forbes

“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ”-Philippians 2:5-11(MSG