Paradox of Humility and Self-confidence
Scott Peck talks a lot about paradoxes. In his book The Road Less Travelled and Beyond he talks about the paradox of possessing humility and also having high self-confidence and high esteem.
It is important to eliminate the big sin of pride. James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humility is good! That means we are to stop comparing, competing, judging others and arrogantly seeing ourselves and behaving as if we are superior to others.
It does not mean that we are to be doormats. In Philippians 4:8, we are commanded to know the truth about our True-Selves-In-Christ and think about that excellence. Without comparing,we are to value what is praiseworthy and excellent about ourselves. To live a full and abundant life, we need to know the truth about ourselves and honour God by using our talents, skills and abilities to their highest potential. In God’s eyes we are good, worthy, valuable, precious and beautiful. We need to see ourselves through God’s eyes and then live in the power of that truth.
To know ourselves is not vanity. To honestly know ourselves is truth seeking. We can honestly be good and be humbe at the same time. That is the paradox. Don’t miss out in life with a false humility by putting yourself down and lose your true self in the process. To be powerful in the Kingdom of God, you need to humbly do great things by being who he made you to be – with no comparing.
