What Humility Looks Like: Part 2

In James 3:13-18 James lays out the two ways in which we can approach relationships: 1) the way of humility or 2) the way of selfishness. He says that selfishness is the cause of relational dysfunction and that humility is God's cure. He then goes on to describe for us what humility looks like so we can practice it in our every day lives and relationships.

First, James says that humility is pure and peace loving (v17). 

Second, James says that humility is considerate (v17). 

Considerate here means you are mindful of how your actions or inaction affects others. When you're selfish you don't really care how what you do might inconvenience or upset someone else. But when humility characterizes your life, you put others before yourself in that you think through how your behavior affects others. 

My wife recently asked me to stop leaving empty popcorn bags under the microwave. You see, I have this bad habit of empty the bag into the bowl and then just leaving the bag on the counter for the empty popcorn bag fairy to come clean up. Kristin informed me there is no such thing as the empty popcorn bag fairy, and that it's her who has to clean up my bag when I leave it on the counter. This is the opposite of considerate. 

Did you know that God is considerate? For example, when He saw us separated from him because of our sin, He was mindful (or considerate) that his inaction would affect us deeply. So he sent Jesus to die in our place for our sins so that we wouldn't have to. Image if we were all like God, thinking of how our actions or inactions would affect others - wouldn't we all have better relationships? I think we would! 

If you use the last of the bath tissue in the restroom don't leave the roll behind for someone else to replace. That's inconsiderate. If you're married, don't make plans independently. You and your spouse are one. When you fail to take your spouse into account when making decisions, that's inconsiderate. Look behind you when you walk through a door. Letting the door slam into the person behind you that weren't mindful of is inconsiderate. God says relationships work best when we're considerate of others.