A little bit about me. When I was a teenager growing up, the church that my dad and mom chose for us to attend, stressed humility. They stressed it in a way that in order to have salvation you had to be humble, (which I agree with). But their references to humility confused me. They implied that a humble man put himself below others, that he was nothing. At the same time they were teaching this, most of the members seemed to have a lot of pride. In the years that were most impressionable to my development, I was trying to be this humble man, below others, and it caused my self esteem to bottom out as well.
Over the years, as I have searched for meaning, God has shown me that humility is not the way it was told to me. Humility is realizing that none of us are any better or worse than any other person, and that we all are nothing without God. We can do nothing without God, and realizing that, we should seek him in everything that we do.
Another confusing aspect that I contemplated was; How can there be so many different religions and beliefs if everyone is seeking to follow God? With what God has shown me about humility, this one became a little clearer. I myself have been guilty of reading the Bible, thinking that I could figure out doctrinal principles. We are nothing and can do nothing without God. No man, no matter how intelligent, can decipher the scriptures, unless he is lead by God. He must allow God to reveal the true meaning to him. Go into it thinking that
I am going to figure it out, and your past experiences and teachings will cloud what you read. Open the Bible, praying that God will lead you to the truth, with an open mind, and there you will find the one truth that unifies all God's people.
