Humility

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to a worship conference put on by Paul Baloche.  The point of the whole thing was to help worship teams be better at their “craft”- better technically, but also better at playing and singing music in such a way that others are truly brought closer to God.  It was a humbling experience- to watch musicians playing skillfully yet selflessly, and to simultaneously be brought to a place of self-examination.

Whatever technical advice I got at the conference, humility is really my takeaway.  I can get so caught up in MY role- MY gifts- MY feelings.  Yes, I admit that I struggle at times even singing at church with feelings of pride and resentment and insecurities that don’t honor God.  It is very easy to fall into comparison traps where I steal from God’s glory trying to measure up to another person who, like me, was created by that same God.  And I find a similar tendency offstage- when I look at someone else’s life and try to judge it by my standards- when I feel threatened by someone’s talent, or subtly treat someone as less because I think I know more.

We are all God’s- we are all equal in his eyes.

And the worst thing about comparison pitfalls between ourselves and other followers of God is that we are fighting against our own team.  We are shooting at the body of Christ that we are part of.

1 Corinthians 12: 24b-27
But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

We should have equal concern for each other- we are meant to share each other’s suffering and joy- and we can’t do that if we are all only looking out for ourselves- our issues.  I am finding that if I can pray for others in the church- pray for God’s blessing on their lives- pray that God will use them and their resources to grow His Kingdom- then I shift the focus off of me and onto God.  I shift the focus off of my pettiness, and enter into the beautiful realization that when one part of the body of Christ is honored, I share in that somehow.  And most importantly, the united body of Christ brings glory to God.