Jill Miller
- May 17, 2017
- 3 min read

Faithful to Forgive

Faithful to Forgive

Blog – 3-22-17

Humility, how would you describe it? It seems at first glance to be about weakness and passivity. But is it?

Bill Wilson, the man who developed the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, wrote that humility was, “the clear recognition of what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to be what we can be.”

I love that, especially the part about offering a sincere, earnest attempt to be what we can be. Something about that touches me very deeply.

I’m pondering humility because this week we are on Step 7 which says, “Humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.”

We’ve gone through the hard work of writing our junk down in Step 4 and telling it to someone else in Step 5, and now it’s time to take it to the Big Guy! It’s time to get down on our knees, lose every excuse, tear down every wall and ask God to take our shortcomings away, remove them, perform major surgery on our souls.

But according to what Bill W. says, we can’t stop there to truly be humble. Yes, we need to recognize our failures, our weaknesses, our shame, but that’s not enough. In order to be exercising true humility, we must take the next step and actively attempt to be a better person. It’s something my mentor John Maxwell talks about all the time, becoming intentional about growth.

Humility is so important, in fact, that Bill W. felt humility was the key to success in the recovery program and people could not stay sober without being humble. I agree wholeheartedly.

Actually, I’m convinced humility is key to faith in general. It simply doesn’t work without it.

Thankfully, in God’s beautiful plan, He makes it completely safe for us to be humble because the shortcomings that we so clearly see in our minds, those mistakes that haunt us, are instantly covered by grace. They no longer have control over us because Jesus set us free.

His cross sang our freedom song!

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

Those individual shortcomings we struggle with, whether it’s jealousy, greed, judgementalness, anger, to name a few, we can confess them over and over again, hundreds of times, in fact, and this passage assures us that God is faithful to forgive every time.

EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

God isn’t up there on His throne saying, “Come on, Jill, let’s get it together.” God is saying, “Come on, Jill, let me forgive you and make you new again. My cross is singing freedom over you right now.”

God is faithful.

God is good.

God is forgiving.

If that doesn’t make you feel humble, I don’t know what will!

When that truth settles deep into my soul, it helps me take the next step Bill talked about in his definition of humility and makes me sincerely WANT to be a better person, to strive with every part of my being to become exactly who God intended me to be.

Ultimately, Step 7 teaches all of us, whether we’re in a recovery program or not, that humility is a good thing…no, it’s a great thing because humility is vital on the path to a useful, happy life.

Here are the words to the song for Step 7. Enjoy!

VERSE 1: If we name our sin and confess our pride He’s faithful to forgive, faithful to forgive If we tell our secrets that they can’t hide He’s faithful to forgive, faithful to forgive

CHORUS: His love, oh His love will lead us home His cross, oh it sang our freedom song From the east to the west, every sin, every debt, is paid for, dead and gone He’s faithful to forgive, faithful to forgive

VERSE 2: Every day we start on a fresh new page He’s faithful to forgive, faithful to forgive When we humbly ask in Jesus’ name He’s faithful to forgive, faithful to forgive

BRIDGE: God is good and His love endures forever and ever God is good and His love endures forever and ever

Hugs and love,

Jill

Faithful to Forgive

Faithful to Forgive

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