Stay humble or you’ll stumble

Stay humble or you’ll stumble

By Rick Warren

Stay humble or you’ll stumble as a leader. It’s an irrevocable law of ministry – and life for that matter. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:23, “Arrogance will bring your downfall but if you’re humble, you will be respected.” (GNB)
What does it mean to be humble? It’s not denying your strengths. That’s just being phony. That’s false humility. Don’t try to hide what you’re not good at.
Humility means being honest about your weaknesses. When Paul asked God to remove his “thorn in the flesh,” God told Him that His power was made perfect in weakness. You show those you lead the power of God working through you when you come clean about what you’re not good at.
Humility means realizing how much you owe other people. You didn’t get the opportunities you’ve gotten on your own. Others have helped. Don’t forget the many people who shaped you and helped you get were you are. And then don’t forget the people in your life today who make you better. We all stand on the shoulders of other people. Humility means acknowledging those other people.
Humility means being honest about who you are. At one point I thought Paul had an ego trip because he’d write sentences like, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” But it’s not arrogant. It’s honest. He was saying, “At least I’m making an attempt to try to live for the Lord and that’s better than a lot of people are doing.”
Paul could be honest about his strengths because he was also honest about his weaknesses. He wrote at various times, “I come to you in weakness with great fear and trembling … I’m the least of the apostles … the chief of sinners.” He never shied away from his weaknesses.

Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times best seller The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers.



Copyright © 2010 Rick Warren