Humility means recognizing your strengths as gifts from God, meant to be used for His purposes. It is understanding our dependence, sinfulness, and belovedness.

Jesus speaks of a dinner party in our gospel this weekend. He explains that we should not assume that we are the most honored guest, rather we should wait to be invited to a higher place of honor. From the desire of being honored, deliver me, Jesus.

While dinner parties like this are not as common in our culture today, there are many other ways that we struggle with humility.

We seek affirmation through how many “likes” we get on social media.
From the desire of being approved, deliver me, Jesus.

We strive endlessly for better jobs with higher titles.
From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, Jesus.

We look to our spouses or close friends for compliments and praise.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me, Jesus.

Or we struggle with humility by holding back our strengths from the Lord’s service. For example, the Lord has blessed you with a beautiful singing voice, but you choose not to participate in music ministry or sing loudly in the pews for fear of judgement.
From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, Jesus.

How is Jesus calling you to be more humble? Do you place too much emphasis on the opinion of others? Do you need to allow God to use your gifts more freely?
Humility –  Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.