- Be thankful. Look for things to be thankful for, and focus more thoughts on why certain things deserve gratitude. Among the things to remember most often are the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the personal miracles He's given me in my life.
- Look for the good in others. Rather than thinking about my wants and needs, look first to be interested in others, and find praiseworthy things in their behavior and character. Praise them. As I do this my love for others grows.
- Repent constantly. Mistakes happen everyday. How long should I wait to apologize to God and promise to do better? As soon as I recognize the error, that is the time to repent. Repent every day, every hour, every minute as necessary.
- Seek the Lord's will. In everything I do, try to keep a prayer in my heart, seeking to do what He would have me do, regardless of my own preferences or even my own convictions.
- Pray for it. At times the response will be difficult. Other times the answer will be tender and sweet. Be ready to accept whatever answer the Lord gives--be willing to do whatever He recommends.
- Serve others. One of the best ways to improve myself is to act like I would if I were already the kind of person I want to become--practice makes perfect. Humble people are always in the service of others.
Humility brings inner peace and peace to those around you. Sometimes we are compelled to be humble because of life experiences, but the Lord is most pleased when we choose to be humble of our own free will. But gaining humility is not as easy as simply deciding not to be prideful. It takes effort. Below are some methods I've found to be helpful in building and maintaining humility:
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Asking Heavenly Father a simple yes or no question is a great method for trying to find answers to questions. There are some who insist God does not answer every sincere prayer. As a loving parent, Heavenly Father always listens to our prayers. Sometimes the answer to our simple question is not what we'd want. And sometimes it isn't anything like we expect.
A truly caring parent will not give answers that are contrary to what is right, no matter how much the child insists. Sometimes the answer is simply Yes, other times it is simply No. Sometimes I am unprepared for the answer to my question, or there is more I need to learn, or the best method of delivering the answer requires special timing. Even though I ask a simple yes or no question, the answer I hear is "wait a while." At other times, though the question was framed to elicit a Yes or No response, the answer that comes is personal spiritual instruction. I feel something of what God feels toward me. I am prompted as to some action or direction to take. Often in these situations, the spiritual instruction I receive seems almost unrelated to my original question. Yet as I carefully consider His response, I realize it is the answer to the question I should have asked. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God..."
It matters little whether a person, group, or a church thinks I am a Christian. What matters most is whether Christ thinks I am Christian. "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." Am I Christian? I know how to find out. If I am willing to believe the answer, He will tell me. Truth is an understanding of how things really are. Intelligence has been defined as "the light of truth." All light [knowledge] is bestowed by God. Though some believe that we can obtain knowledge of truth without God, the fact is that knowledge of truth cannot come from any other source.
Thus, any time we come to a knowledge of any truth, we can know that God was the source and the benefactor of that event. Scholars often try to discredit personal knowledge that is received from God, but there is no more sure way of discovering truth than by asking the source of all truth. Why then do members of Christian denominations rely so heavily on the wisdom of gospel scholars? Every sect and faith (including atheists and agnostics) have pastors and theologians who claim to have a more correct understanding of truth because of their own study. In this way the leaders of the Christian sects are imitating the scribes and Pharisees who lived at the time of Christ. While these gospel scholars self-interestedly proclaimed their own wisdom, Christ found simple fishers and others to be his true leaders. He knew He could trust them to teach the truth not based on their own logic, but based on what God would tell them. Christ taught us plainly about the source to which we should look for truth, and it wasn't a self-proclaimed theologian: "Blessed art thou [Peter], for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." A personal relationship with the Savior is certainly important. Why then did He teach us to pray to the Father rather than to Himself? Can we have a relationship with someone we don't talk to? The Lord will forgive as He judges appropriate, but we are commanded to forgive everyone. This can be very difficult at times, particularly when consequences of the offense are long-lasting. Simply trying to convince ourselves that we need to forgive is often not enough to change our hearts. Science generally admits that it doesn't know the truth. On some things science feels it is pretty sure, but no one will go so far as to say they've discovered an absolute truth. What science discovers is facts. Science uses these facts to guess at truth. Then they try to disprove their guess by gathering more facts and seeing if their guess holds true. We've been told we should not take the name of the Lord in vain. This commandment is often interpreted to mean "no swearing." Using offensive language is indeed wrong, but misusing or abusing the name of the Lord is worse. Whenever we do something to serve our own vanity, and we do it in the name of the Lord, we are breaking that commandment. Scripture is inspired of God, but it isn't the words themselves that are true. Truth is found in the meaning behind the words. Because of this fact, many educated and scholarly opinions are formed--in contradiction to each other. They can't agree on what the scriptures mean in every case. |
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