Mom Heart Moments #44

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.

IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO count how many times I have found it necessary to humble myself in relationships. Sometimes I knew I was the one in the wrong. But many times, I chose to humble myself while still convinced the other person was guilty! The good news is, the more you practice humility, the easier it becomes. We are more like God when we love and “cover a multitude of sins” with our words and compassion than at any other time.

Does it hurt to be ignored or mistreated? Of course! But if we love Jesus, we are called to love and forgive not because the other person deserves it, but because Jesus tells us to love and forgive! We love out of our commitment to Him. Loyal, humble, long-suffering love —the kind that says, “I don’t care what you have done; I will choose to forgive you” —is what makes us a picture of His reality to this world.

How important it is to train our children in love. The reason there is so much brokenness —so many divorces, so much child abuse, such prevalent feelings of abandonment in the hearts of children and adults —is because loving and serving one another takes a lot of work, sacrifice, and humility, and those are not natural to us. Only God’s love and Jesus’ example have the power to bring about change. We love because He first loved us. And love so often begins . . . with humility.

What if we choose to lay down our lives for our children, to humble ourselves and ask for and offer forgiveness, to model love, to set our own desires aside in favor of those in our families? We could change the world, starting in our own living rooms.

Take a moment to ask the Lord to show you your heart and its current position . . . and for help if it needs changing, as mine always does!