The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Five Benefits of Humility

Episode Date: September 22, 2017

Do you need some humility in your life? This week's episode of the Jeff Cavins Show is for you. Learn new ways to grow in humility starting today, and discover the fruits that will come from that growth.

You're listening to the Jeff Kavana show. Episode 34, Five Benefits of Humility. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven Show.

Welcome to the show, once again, my friend. Good to spend some time with you. This week we're going to be talking. talking about humility and specifically five benefits of humility. What can it do in our life? How does it benefit us? And what does God have to say about walking in humility? You know that every week we talk about all things, discipleship, we talk about what it means to be a Christian in the modern world, practical, trying to keep it really practical. And this topic this week is about as practical as you can get. And I got to tell you, there's so many times, you know, in my life, and particularly

this last week, I started thinking a lot about this, about humility, where every once in a while, you're, you know, you're in a conversation with people, and all of a sudden, you know, you say something that it kind of just, I don't know, it kind of rubs you wrong. Like, ah, maybe I was a little over the edge there. And I got to take a little bit more of a humble attitude, you know, about this topic or that topic or anything that we, you know, or anything that we've done. You know what I'm talking about. You're going to go to a dinner party or whatever it might be. And you're just reminded of that from time to time. And I think it's a good idea for us to take a look at the biblical foundations of humility and then make the adjustments, you know,

in our life. Hey, I appreciate you sending in the email. I got some really good feedback from you, and I really appreciate that. And I do encourage you, if you can, to go to iTunes and leave a ranking and some comments. It's always, always helpful. I always welcome that, and I always welcome comments from you about how it's benefiting your life or the way that that particular show

made a difference in your life. Hey, I've got a couple of emails I want to share with you, as you know, historically at least, we're on the other side now of Hurricane Irma, and we have Hurricane Maria that is now bearing down. in Puerto Rico, followed by Hurricane Jose. It's been a hard year for storms in people's lives.

And boy, I get that. And our prayers are for all of our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas. Wow, a lot, a lot going on. And I got a email from Lucy. And she says, it's been super easy. and supernatural to evangelize these past few days. She's speaking about a show I did on super natural evangelization.

She said, as we're prepping for the likely arrival of Hurricane Irma here in Florida, I've been waiting in a lot of long lines. All it takes is one small spark, a comment to get the conversation started, and all of a sudden, you've got several people at Costco talking about praying. Jesus and the Holy Spirit also brought into the conversation. conversation. The look on everyone's faces, Lucy says, instantly changes from gloomy to, I would say, joyful. The coolest part, she says, is watching the people around us who weren't participating in the conversation. I just know a few of them felt a little more peaceful and calm just by listening

to us. I mean, she says, the Holy Spirit, as he was surely the one animating our conversation. Please keep up us in your prayers. God's peace and grace be with you. Lucy. And I appreciate your comment, Lucy, and no doubt when you have natural disasters in very difficult times in people's lives, it does give you a natural, a super natural opportunity to encourage people or to give them hope or point them to Jesus. I got another email from Norm. Norm writes and says, he says, I do not know why, but I discovered years ago that I am very good at not recognizing the hurts. that I have accumulated in my life. At times, the anger jumps up and bites me when I least expect it. I have buried a lot of hurt over the years, not wanting to deal with it.

These days, I try to deal with it by forgiving those who have hurt me. It's not easy, but necessary, of course. You are so right. Norm, you are so right. You can write me at the Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com, and I'll get your email, and always look forward to it. I read all of them. and I do appreciate your comments.

Talking about humility this week and the five benefits of humility, before we get into that, I want to just share something with you that took place in my life this last week. My wife and I take a walk almost every night. We go about a couple miles or so, and every night we go by a house that is about five down from ours, and there's a routine that takes place at that.

this house. In fact, there's two houses, one next to each other. And both of the guys, their garage is like a man cave. And they've got the Minnesota twins on in their garage. And they're sitting out there with a fire in the driveway and maybe drinking a beer or something. And we've come to expect that when we go on these walks. Well, this last week we went by, and I knew the twins were on, but the garage door was down. And I thought, huh, maybe the twins were canceled. Because this guy, our neighbor, was so regular at watching the twins and sitting out in his driveway in the evening. Well, I got a message from one of our friends that said that our neighbor died. He had a sudden heart attack at 62 years old and it passed away.

And it kind of hit us hard because it's something that we go by almost every night and we wave to him. And he was the one that organized the neighborhood parties, New Year's Eve, Christmas tree burning. Just a great, a great guy. I didn't know him that well, but I knew him and his wife. And it hit me, you know, this last week, just sharing with you that I travel all over the world to speak with people. I write books for people all over the world.

I do Bible studies and thematic studies. I do radio and TV interviews, and I talk to so many people about Jesus, but I didn't talk to my neighbor. And that was kind of a wake-up call for me this week, to be honest with you. I thought, wow, I get into an airplane and I fly to Florida or I fly to New York or somewhere and I speak to people, but I walk by this guy's house every night and wave. But I never, as I think back, I never really sat down and told him about what was the most important thing in my life and what I do. I think he might have known, but I didn't make that a priority.

And I share that with you because it kind of sobered me up and I thought, you know, I'm going to share this on the show because there might be people in your neighborhood that you go by all the time. And maybe they know a little bit about you that you're an IT director or you're a doctor or whatever, you're a teacher. But you've never got into a conversation with them about your faith or entered into what I would call the supernatural evangelization, you know, giving a good word. And so I want to encourage you this week. If there's people that you walk by all the time, there's nothing wrong with going up to them and saying, you know, I notice I come here every day. I see you every day.

And I'm interested in you, you know, a little bit about you. But I also wanted to let you know a little bit about what's the most important thing in my life, which is Jesus. If you do it in sincerity, I have found that people don't think you're weird or anything like that. They really do accept it. So I thought I'd share that with you this week. On to humility, the five benefits of humility.

I want to talk, first of all, a little bit about humility and what humility is. When I talk about humility, it is the opposite of pride. I mean, humility is a virtue. Pride is a vice. Humility, really, here's a good definition, is making a right assessment or right estimate of oneself in relationship to God and in relationship to one another. So we do not have an overestimated assessment of ourself

or a deflated estimate of ourselves. That's equally bad as to not, you know, recognize the value that God has created you with. We know who we are. Humility is not thinking less of ourselves. It is thinking of ourselves less, okay? So St. Thomas put it this way. He said the virtue of humility consists in keeping oneself with one's own balance,

not reaching out to things above one, but submitting to one superior. Now, I have found that when you meet someone who has an attitude of humility, and they don't think that they're greater than you or anything like that, they're oftentimes just beautiful people to be around. Paul put it like this when he spoke about humility. He said in Romans chapter 12 and verse 3, I'll have these in the show notes for you. He says, for by the grace given to me,

I bid everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith, which God has assigned him. Now, the Bible talks about the downfall of the enemy, and the downfall of the enemy has something to do with pride. The Book of Wisdom tells us that envy was a part of this, but pride also. Ezekiel put it this way in Ezekiel 2817. Your heart was proud because of your beauty.

You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. That's Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. They'll be in the show notes. But it was pride that St. Augustine says changed angels into devils, and it is humility that makes men as angels. And so pride is a very dangerous thing, very, very dangerous.

It has a way of making us who we're not, and it can be very, very ugly at time. Now, on the other side of that, we know that Jesus is the epitome of humility. Jesus is the epitome of humility and I love what it says in Matthew 1129 Jesus said take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you'll find rest for your souls so humility is really seeing through the eyes of Jesus

have you ever have you ever gone to that temple of Apollo in Delphi it's a giant door of the temple of Apollo in Delphiwick, and there's an inscription on it that says, know thyself, know thyself. Now, this ancient inscription is interesting because it's not referring to the positive qualities that you have. That wasn't the purpose of that door on the temple of Apollo, but it was rather becoming aware of your limitations. Becoming aware of your limitations. Father Juan Luis Lourda in his great book I recommended to you called The Virtues of Holiness.

He said that it's said that the best business in the world would be buying men at what they're worth and selling them at what they think they're worth. A little inflated, you know? You make an awful lot of money doing that. So humility, once again, is a proper assessment of who you are in relationship to God and a proper assessment of who you are in relationship to one another. Jesus is the model of humility. Paul said in Philippians 2, he says,

having come to earth as a man, Jesus humbled himself and became obedient, even to the point of dying on the cross. So what we see in the life of Jesus is that humility is not what people in this world think humility is, which is weakness. And you're going to be a doormat, and people are going to walk, all over you, and somehow if you become a doormat and people walk on you, good things happen. That's not true at all.

Humility was the hidden strength that overcame evil. Humility in the life of Jesus was that hidden strength that overcame evil. Every aspect of his life absolutely oozed humility. God sending his son to earth as a human was humility. Growing up those 30 silent years, that was a sign of humility as he was. obeyed Mary and Joseph and worked humbly in Nazareth. The baptism of Jesus at the Jordan, in Matthew chapter 3, Jesus begins his public ministry by submitting himself to baptism at, by the way, geographically the lowest place on earth, the Jordan in the wilderness of Judea. The beginning of

Jesus, total humility. Total humility. Jesus taught that the greatest in the kingdom must humble themselves and become like children. And what did he do? He gave us an example in John 13 about washing his disciples feet. Absolutely amazing. And so I like to, before I get to these five benefits of humility, I'd ask you, and I've been doing this this week as well, to pray and to look at your life over the last week, two weeks, month or so, and ask yourself, you are becoming puffed up. Ask yourself if pride is entering in. Are you getting defensive, you know, and when people say things to you, and you're defending yourself more than normal or at all? And then to ask God, do I need an adjustment, an attitude adjustment

here? Because here's what happens. If you don't humble yourself, the Word of God tells us that you will be humbled. You will be humbled. And so humility is one of those great choices that God has given us on a weekly, daily basis, where we can actually humble ourselves. And that's a gift. That's a grace. That he's kind of saying, look, you can do it or I'll do it. But we know one thing, and that is in the end, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God. And I think for us as Christians who have the wisdom of God in our hearts, in our minds, it would behoove us to take the first step and humble ourselves. And this is really good to do, particularly before important meetings, important engagements and relationships

and decisions that you need to make, spending of your money, disciplining your children, going into a review at work where you know you might be criticized, you know, for some of your performance. Humility must be, must be at the head here when we walk. I'm going to take a break. When we come back, I'm going to give you the five benefits of humility, and I think it's going to be a big benefit for you. I know it is for me as I make attitude adjustments in my own life. We'll be back. you're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Be back in just a moment. It's hard to live out your Catholic faith on your own.

In fact, the Bible reveals that we need a community of people to help us on our journey of faith. If you're interested in finding that community by joining or starting a small group study, visit ascensionpress.com and sign up for a free ascension account. With your account, you'll get all the tools you need to start walking with others towards Christ. Welcome back. We're talking about humility and specifically five benefits of humility

in our life. And these five things that I'm going to share with you, I need to be reminded of them constantly, constantly. I need to be reminded of them. And then at the very end, I'm going to share with you an amazing poem that really spells out, I think, an awful lot of our attitudes and the things that we contribute to the world when, in fact, what we contribute is oftentimes very small, but we think it is bigger than ever. So I got five benefits to humility for you. Number one, the number one, we've got humility. Humility is the key. Get this, it's the key to gaining wisdom. It's the key to gaining wisdom. The scripture says in, let's see, Proverbs 11, 2, when pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. Now here's what happens when,

we walk in in humility. Humility sets the table, sort of speak, for the wisdom of God to come to us in our lives. Wisdom, we say it again, wisdom sets the table for the wisdom of God to come. You see, if you don't have humility, that is, a proper assessment of who you are in relationship to others in God, you will never open your heart up to being corrected. You'll never open your heart up to receiving advice and wisdom from either God or from brothers and sisters in Christ. And oftentimes what happens is that we have this attitude of, well, I know, I know. And if somebody comes up and says, and I've done this before, I'll be honest with you, I've done it. People will come up and say, well, Jeff, I listen to your tape and I listened to your video and watched it.

And I just wanted to share that you could probably add this and this and this. And me and my pride, I respond with, well, I knew that. I just didn't put that in there. Instead of having a humble attitude that takes in this advice, assesses the advice, and I chew up the straw, spit out the sticks, you know? But I don't have to make a big defense about it. So humility is the key to gaining wisdom. If you need wisdom in your life, my friend, right now, at work, at home, your marriage,

finances, whatever it might be, humble yourself, be open to learning, be open to wisdom, be open to, oh, the advice of God. You know, I talk about this in our walking toward eternity series on wisdom. I also talk about this in our whole, I have a whole series, a great adventure Bible study on wisdom about God's plan for you. Look it up on ascension. I'll give you a link in the show notes. But this is one of the things I try to make a big issue out of, and that is that humility is the key to gaining wisdom. Number two, God looks to the humble to work through.

Have you ever wondered why God did so much through St. John Paul II? Have you ever thought about the sisters of charity with Mother Teresa and how God could do so much with what appears to the world to be so little? I'll give you the key right here. Humility. God looks to the humble to work through. It says in Isaiah 662, it's one of my all-time favorite verses. I remember, I actually remember, memorizing this text in 1980.

In 1980, I memorized this. This text, it says, all these things my hand has made, God says. And so all these things are mine, says the Lord. But this is the man to whom I will look. He that is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. That's the one that God will look to. That's the one that God will work through. And that's the reason that he did so much through Mother Teresa,

so much through St. John Paul II, so much with Therese, Therese of Lesou, Therese of Lassou, Terese of Lazzou, and some of these other, I'm thinking of some of the other Maximilian Colby. Go ahead, email me. You've probably got names, too, of tremendous saints that were humble, and God did an amazing work through. God looks to the humble to work through. If you're wondering right now, how come things don't happen in my life?

How come God doesn't seem to be moving in my life? You have to ask yourself, have you set the table that is, is prepared your heart with humility to have God come in and do a work in your heart and through you. Don't think that you are more than your brother or sister. Don't think that you don't need the help of God and the wisdom of God. We are desperate for it. We really are. And number three, well, let me share with you one more thing about God looks to the humble to work through. It's a great quote of St. John of the Cross. He said, to be taken with love for a soul. God does not look on its greatness, but on the greatness of its humility.

Isn't that beautiful? That's St. John on the Cross. Number three, we're talking about five benefits of humility. Number three, humility prepares the avenue to your heart for God's grace. Let me say it again. Humility prepares the road or the avenue to your heart for God's grace to travel down. God's grace is the life of the Trinity. And we all need that. I mean, we desperately need it. And the greatest source of grace is the Eucharist, the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. But if you walk in humility, you are literally creating an avenue for God's grace to come into your life and in your heart. James put it this way. He said, but God gives more grace.

Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Isn't that beautiful? That's James 4, 6. you can also look up 1-Peter 5-5. I'll put them in the show notes for you, that humility prepares the avenue to your heart for God's grace. Let me ask you, do you need God's life right now in your life? Is it something that you desperately need?

Then prepare your heart with humility. Prepare your heart with humility. Maybe you're facing a really big decision coming up. Or maybe you are facing something related to your health and you're scared and you need God's grace in your life put off that proud

proud-filled countenance and put on humility put on humility in your life walk in it here's another benefit of humility number four and boy this is one to be honest with you I could have done more, and I would have benefited far greater if I would have done this more often.

How many of you get into fights with people, arguments with people? Maybe you got into an argument with your spouse just this last week. Number four, the benefit of humility, you can diffuse arguments when you're humble. Oh, I failed at that so many times. You know, I'll get into an argument with someone. And instead of taking the high road, which is the low road, humility, I argued. I argued. And even when I knew that they had a good point, I didn't give in, I continued to argue.

Now, I don't do that all the time. So I'm not telling you I do that all the time, but I've done my share. And afterwards, I feel dumb. I feel dirty. I feel like, oh, why did I do that? how come I just couldn't walk in humility and diffuse this argument? I kept it going with a harsh answer and I brought up more problems and maybe even said, well, I'm not the only one that feels this way.

Well, that really does a lot for settling an argument, doesn't it? Here's what the scripture says in Proverbs 15-1. Take this to the bank this week. It says, a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. and oftentimes harsh words are connected to pride and soft answers are connected to humility. I can tell you I've been in a few arguments with my wife, lost everyone, but I've been in a few arguments with my wife, and she has a way of quieting me with just a very, very soft answer. And what am I going to do at that point?

Well, I suppose I could continue to argue or whatever, but nothing is going to be settled. that is because a soft answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger this week think about that you know think about about the way you respond when there is an argument going on or you've been crossed in in some way and number five one of the benefits of humility and i love this one to be honest with you this is another one i need more of and that is this you do not have to put on a false front when you are humble. No hypocrisy. If you're humble, get this, you can be yourself. You can be yourself. You don't have to prop yourself up with, I did this and I know that, well, I've got some insight, well, you don't understand, and you don't have to do that. You can just be yourself. No hypocrisy.

You know that the word hypocrite, the word hypocrite, we typically associate that term, today with someone who says one thing but really is another. But the word hypocrite originally is the word for actor in Greece. It's an actor. Someone who's a hypocrite is someone who acts like somebody else. And when you walk in humility, you don't have to act like someone else. You really are free to be you. So you don't have to be one person at work, puffed up. You don't have to be one person with your relatives. You don't have to be another person with the neighbors. You don't have to be another person when you go to school. You don't have to be another person when you go to church. You can just be you if you walk in humility. I love that. I need to hear that more and more.

This is what Jesus said in Luke chapter 12. He said, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. That is, one thing but acting another way. You don't have to put on a false front when you're humble. You can be yourself. St. Augustine put it this way. He said humility is the foundation of all the other virtues. Hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist, there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance. Humility is foundational to all of the other. other virtues. So those are the five benefits I want to share. There's more, I know. And in fact, email me. You got other benefits? I'd love to hear them because it's just going to make me better,

you know, as a Christian. And I'll share them with the audience, too. I'll share them with all of the people that are listening to the show. So once again, number one, humility is the key to gaining wisdom. Number two, God looks to the humble to work through. Number three, humility prepares the avenue to your heart for God's grace. Number four, you can diffuse arguments when you are humble. And number five, you do not have to put on a false front. When you are humble, you can be yourself. Oh, there's so much more I can talk about this, but I wanted to share those with you. I know you've probably got to get to work. You've been sitting in the parking light about ready to go in. But I want to end with this one, this one, it's actually a poem.

I think this poem, it's called The Lanyard by Billy Collins. If I have spoken at your church, you might have heard me even mention this, but it's a wonderful poem that talks about a young boy who makes something for his mother. He thinks it's really something, when in fact it really isn't. And he has sort of an inappropriate, not inappropriate, but inaccurate assessment of who he is in relationship to the gift that his mother has given him. has given him and it sure drives the point home i'll put this in the show notes by the way uh because this is one of those that you're probably going to google and say i want to get a hold of

that uh here it is it's called uh it's called the lanyard billy collins he says the other day i was ricocheting slowly off the walls the blue walls of this room moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor when i found myself in the L section of the dictionary where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard. No cookie nibbled by a French novelist could send one into the past more suddenly, a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp by a deep Adirondack Lake, learning how to braid long, thin, plastic strips into a lanyard, a gift for my mother. I had never seen anyone use a lanyard, or wear one, if that's what you did with them. But that did not keep me from

crossing strand over strand again and again until I had made a boxy, red, and white lanyard for my mother. She gave me life and milk from her breasts, and I gave her a lanyard. She nursed me in many a sick room, lifted spoons of medicine to my lips, laid cold-faced claws on my forehead, and then led me out into the airy light and taught me to walk and swim, and I in turn presented her with a lanyard. Here are thousands of meals, she said, and here is clothing and a good education, and here is your lanyard, I replied, which I made with a little help from a counselor. Here is a breathing body and a beating heart, strong legs, bones, and teeth, and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered, and here I said, is the lanyard I made at camp. And here I wish to say to her now is a smaller gift, not the worn truth that you can never repay your mother, but the rueful admission that when she took the two-tone lanyard from

my hand. I was as sure as a boy could be that this useless, worthless thing I wove out of boredom would be enough to make us even. The lanyard. Isn't that beautiful? It really says it, doesn't it? Let's walk in humility this week, shall we? One of the things you might want to do is you might want to Google the litany of humility. The litany of humility is one of the greatest prayers ever. And I love it. I love it. Oh, Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being loved, deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being honored, deliver me, Jesus. from the desire of being praised, from the desire of being preferred to others, from the desire of being consulted, deliver me. And it goes on.

It goes on, I'm going to leave that up to you to Google that, look it up, and seek that out. It's such a beautiful prayer, the litany of humility. Once again, I encourage you to give me an email. I love to hear your thoughts. And if you have ideas on what you'd like me to talk about here on the show, if I'm capable of it, I'll certainly entertain that. But I want to close in prayer, and I do pray you have a great week.

Let's pray together, shall we? In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I thank you for my friend. We've been able to spend this time in the car. I've been able to spend this time on the back deck, maybe sitting out by the beach on vacation. Lord, I ask you to bless them. I ask you, Lord, to give them a sense of who they truly are. in relation to you and who they are in relationship to the rest of the body of Christ. May we walk in humility as you walked in humility,

and may we gain the benefits of walking in humility, because we know that ultimately it honors you, it doesn't push you away, and that you use the person, and the grace of God comes to the person, and wisdom comes to the person who walks in humility, and Lord, we need wisdom, we need grace, we need all of it. And so we ask you, Lord, to help us this week to walk in humility in Jesus' name. Amen. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. My friend, you have a good week. I love you. God bless you. And I'll be praying for you.