I Know How to be Abased
I Know How To Be Abased.
“I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”
Philippians 4:12
In order to lead you must first learn to follow. Everything you learn before you lead will be used when you lead. In order to succeed you should know what suffering is. And in order to abound, you must first learn to be abased.
Our world today, takes much for granted. We have lost the ability to humble ourselves. Humility shouldn’t be forced, it should be learned and accepted. Only then, can we move forward.
I thought I had it all. A prestigious (to me) career where people looked to me for decisions and leadership. I made life and death decisions, trained people and made critical decisions on a daily basis. I was a leader, trainer, partner, teammate and friend.
At home, I tried to hold it all together as well.
We were so busy living life. We were the hub for gatherings and get togethers. Teaching and training constantly on the side. Hobbies and sports. So many extra things we had to have. We were constantly on the move. Consistently doing something. Constantly moving, moving, moving.
In the midst of having it all, I was a wreck. On the outside I was put together, on the inside I was torn apart.
I didn’t have God. And something had to give.
And it gave.
Humility can come in many forms and doses. You can get a little at a time and it can be almost undetectable. Or it can get poured-on so heavy it would be impossible not to notice. Mine was the latter.
I was humbled in ways I could never have imagined. And I deserved and needed it.
At the base of my humility I turned my life over to God.
In the course of my life - I never felt I needed it - until I needed it. My life was on a crash course for destruction. I needed to be humbled. Why? So I could learn how to abound.
If you ever fall in a hole there are only two things you can do. You can either sit in the hole and die or you can get out. The only good option is going up. That’s the abounding. Nobody who ever fell, continued in life from the fallen position and survived life’s trials to succeed.
We have to get up. And God makes that possible.
I was a shipwreck. Not a tiny boat that beached itself on a sandbar. I was the Titanic and I hit an iceberg.
Paul was imprisoned and sang and worshipped while he was there. He looked to God and trusted Him. He shared Christ. Paul knew he was learning how to be content while he was there. God didn’t abandon him.
We have to learn to trust God. Especially when we’ve been humbled. We can either choose to let our emotions and our mind overwhelm us - or we can turn to God for strength.
I wouldn’t change a thing in my life. Don’t get me wrong, some days I think what life would be like if I wasn’t such a dummy. But I wouldn’t have learned what humility can bring and where it can take you.
I never would’ve grown close to God if I didn’t let the humility teach me how to get back up.
God can work amazing things in your life, if you will let go of yourself and turn to Him.
“But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”
Philippians 4:10-11