Triumph with humility
What exactly is being humble or having humility? A lot of people may say it means to not show so much importance of yourself or being thankful for what we have. I would say it's kind of the opposite of pride. A great example of somebody being humble is the story of Ammon and Aaron in the Book of Mormon. Ammon explains his expression of happiness by saying, "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." Alama 26:12
Here Ammon showed how how he was not happy for himself , but was happy for God and all the many blessings He gave to help preach to other people. As a missionary we use a book called "Preach my Gospel" where it helps us improve our teaching and our personalities. In chapter 6 there is a section on helping us develop Christlike attributes, one of them is humility and it says "Humility is willingness to submit to the will of the Lord and to give the Lord the honor for what is accomplished. It includes gratitude for His blessings and acknowledgment of your constant need for His divine help. Humility is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of spiritual strength. When you humbly trust Him and acknowledge His power and mercy, you can have the assurance that His commandments are for your good. You are confident that you can do whatever the Lord requires of you if you rely on Him. You are also willing to trust His chosen servants and follow their counsel. Humility will help you as you strive to be obedient, to work hard, and serve selflessly." The picture above is a photo of my great grandparents and other family members, and even when they were old. Whenever I would be in my grandma's house in Guatemala, I would always see them cooking and going to church, not complaining once about their age.
A perfect example about somebody who was humble, was our savior Jesus Christ when he suffered for our sins "And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Mathew 26:39
For us to become perfectly humble, we must summit our will to God. But what are some blessings or benefits for being humble?
"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Ether 12:27
"And no one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care. D&C 12:8
"And again, verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto you that have been ordained unto this ministry, that inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am--not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the spiritual." D&C 67:10
"Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers." D&C112:10
"And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted."
Mathew 23:12
I have always struggled with being humble. I felt that if I would make myself proud, than my confidence and skills would go up. I was very competitive and would hate losing, especially against my two little brothers. I would make people feel bad as I would beat them in any type of competition, and unfortunelty I was prideful for a big part of my life. When I was around a month and a half on my mission, I got a companion called Elder Flores. He was my companion and also my trainer and tried to help me improve my teaching ability. We lived in an apartment with two other elders, and for our morning workout we would play soccer in the tennis court. We all loved playing soccer and would even have activities on Mondays to play it. It was always team Elder Amado versus team Elder Flores, and we would pick out our players. My team would usually end up losing by a lot, and I blamed it on a couple of players, and tell them on what to improve. Elder Flores however would just play to have fun, always telling his teammates they did a great job and always improved himself in playing soccer. The day he went home, we decided to lay one last game of soccer for our morning workout. I picked the best 2 players on my team and was really confidant that we would win. We scored the first goal but soon after the other team catches up, and won the last soccer game. I was schocked and surprised, I could not blame my teammates because I knew they were the best ones. The only person I could find myself to blame, was myself. At that moment I realize I was not as good as I thought I was and how I, being prideful, had focused on other's faults instead of mine. So after that I decided to change to be more humble and to learn from others. Honestly It has changed my whole mission. I still at times become prideful, but I have become better at being humble.
If we are humble we will do what God wants us to do. For example in the Old Testament there is a man called Jonah, a prophet that would not preach to a city that God wanted him to go. It wasn't until he got swallowed up by a whale that he realized he needed to do God's will. Even after he preached to the city he sat back to watch it get destroyed.
In chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel under humility, were it talks about pride it says "The opposite of humility is pride, which is condemned in the scriptures. To be prideful means to put greater trust in oneself than in God or in His servants. It also means to put the things of the world above the things of God. Prideful people take honor to themselves rather than giving God the glory. Pride is competitive; those who are prideful seek to have more and presume they are better than other people. Pride usually results in feelings of anger and hatred, and it is a great stumbling block."
So how can we recognize pride in ourselves? In the scriptures there are a lot of examples about how we can recognize pride in ourselves and in others. Here are two of my favorite ones.
"Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom." Proverbs 13:10
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God". 2 Timothy 3:1-4
Unfortunelty as I grew up, I got to see a lot of my friends fall away from school, church and their families, because of their pride. A lot of times we think we know what is best for ourselves, and for others and that is okay, but we must remember to do what God expects us to do. Being religious or not we can't always be thinking of ourselves. So I invite each one of you to make the change. It can be hard and I am still working on not being so prideful. I get really sad and upset when I see church members not assist church anymore because they felt offended, let's learn to forgive and to be humble and if we do so, we will be better example for others, and more people will look up to us. Elder Flores always told me "beware of pride boy".
