Not that again!

The teens at Colonial are going through Jerry Bridges' book "The Practice of Godliness" for Sunday school, and I found out last Sunday that I will be teaching some of the teen girls this coming weekend. This is my first time teaching since Noah was born so I was excited, but I am ashamed to admit that when I was told what the chapter was on I wanted to opt out. What topic could be so bad you ask? Chapter six of Bridges' book is on humility. Now, I know that humility is very important for every believer, but I felt like I had taught on this topic a number of different times the past four years and I was afraid that the girls would tune me out once they heard what the lesson was about. As I began thinking about the lesson I was reminded that I don't obey everything I hear the first, second or even third time, and I am sure that there might be some other sinful people out there just like me who need to be reminded about the importance of having humility.
I am still in the beginning stages of studying, but Bridges has reminded me of the "key" to being humble.

"Humility in every area of life, in every relationship with other people, begins with a right concept of God as the One who is infinite and eternal in His majesty and holiness. We are to humble ourselves under God's mighty hand, approaching every relationship and every circumstance in reference to Him." p74

"This humility before God is basic to all our relationships in life. We cannot begin to experience humility in any other relationship until we experience a deep and profound humility in our attitude toward God. When we are conscious of our (sinful) creature relationship to an infinitely majestic and holy God, we will not wish to selfishly compare ourselves with others. And to the extent that our awareness of our lowly place before God is an abiding one, we will avoid the temptations of pride and competition."p75

Before I started reading Bridges' book I had the mindset that I must be humble because it is commanded in scripture (which is true). What I was reminded of is that humility will be an outcome of a right view of God; it is not just a command that I need to obey out of sheer will power. When I am consumed with the awesomeness of who God is it is not difficult for me to by humble due to my sinful state. But, when I become consumed with the things and people of this world I tend to start comparing myself and become prideful in my heart. My problem is that I am not always consumed with the awesomeness of God; everything in my life must be about God! When God has my full adoration the things that I might have become proud about are no longer a temptation, because I have a different perspective. So though the topic of my lesson will be on humility, the emphasis will be about having a consuming passion for know Christ and God.