Humility....Or Being My Own Worst Enemy

We are reading a book called THE LIFE YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED at church now and it has given me huge insight on the burdens I place on myself that hinder me from growing with God. The subjects range from your motives for growth to your self-esteem. I will summarize what I've learned in each chapter soon, but for now I'll just settle with talking about humility.

When I used to read about the trait of humility, it seemed like the person was always depressed and in a somber mood. Like the were not passionate about anything. Or in my case to keep myself from getting a big head I reminded myself of all the bad things I've done and how far I still had to go in my walk with Jesus. It seemed like the purpose of humility was to put your pride down by balancing it with, in reality, self pity.
God did not intend for us to be put down and in the dumps all the time. The shortest verse in the whole Bible is "Rejoice in the Lord always, Again I say rejoice!" And this message was spoken by Paul while he was in jail. This man called himself the worst sinner of all and he is telling us to rejoice in Him always.
This is what I see from this. Paul knew the truth of his sin after his talk with Christ on the Damascus road, the weight of it caused him grief. And then he was put through a very rough ministry after his conversion. Yet, he was one of the Bible. How is it possible to be low in spirit and high in it at the same time?

HE FOUND HIS WORTH IN CHRIST!!!

Even though he is a sinner, he was forgiven of all of them. Christ took away the debt of sin that Paul had(as well as everyone else's). He surrendered to a love that knows no bounds, except the one to actually choose to take it. He was loved by an eternal God and that is where he got his self-worth from. I mean the prison guards sure didn't pat him on the back during the day.
After this epiphany, Paul realized this: What more importance do I need if God will always love me? Paul began to serve others with a pure heart because he did not need them to feel important. But he did not puff his image up even when he was justified to do so.

Christ showed us the perfect example of being humble. Being a part of the Trinity he was God, but did not even think that was to be grasped by him.

Simply put humility is not trying to puff yourself up but at the same time don't beat yourself up.
When your worth comes from God, what more do you really need? With his strength behind you it is possible to love others without them being your source of love to draw on.

God Bless-Kyle