The Difference Between Humble and Humbled

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Feb 19, 1880

The Difference Between Humble and Humbled

We should never forget the difference between being humble and being humbled. We are often humbled because we are not humble; and the wise Christian has learned that when exalted by the "flesh," he may next expect a thorn in the flesh. If something occurs to puff us up, something will be sure to occur to bring us down, for our Father loves his children too well to allow them to leave their place of entire dependence upon him, self-emptied in his presence. "If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged," 1 Cor. 11:31; and the failure to keep humble often forces upon him the necessity of humbling us into the dust, "for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time."