Speaking Latin

I don’t speak Latin. I chickened out in high school and took Spanish when the high brows took Latin or French. But I do know that a lot of our English words have Latin roots and I want to share two of those words with you.

Humus
Hubris 

The words human and humble share a common Latin origin, the word humus.  The word literally means earth.  Can I stay down to earth; in touch with the ordinary, the every day.

The word hubris means pride. My old friend Merriam Webster calls it exaggerated pride.  Paul in Romans 12:3 warns us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think.  It’s a matter of not being full of yourself; your ideas, your opinions, your preferences, your.whatever.  A person wrapped up in himself/herself makes a very small package. If there was one thing that inflamed Jesus it was the flagrant pride of religious people; especially religious leaders-self-righteous leaders.  The kind that pray, I thank you I’m not like other men, meaning I am better than other men; I am especially not like that bum of a tax collector over there who is asking You to be merciful to him.

Hubris is often the cause of a leader’s downfall.  It is not sexual sin or financial miss-appropriation of funds (two biggies) but hubris that leads to the sexual and financial decisions.

“God opposes the hubris and gives grace to the humus. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” 1st Peter 5:5-6 I am not saying that the Greek (another language I don’t speak) uses the word hubris and humus in these verses, but the concept is inherent in the language.

Since this is a blog, and not supposed to be a full blown dissertation on the subject, I’m not going to thoroughly research this  or blather on but just get the ball in the air and  hopefully kick off a discussion.  Here’s my conclusion: an abundance of Hubris and a lack of Humus is the Achilles heal of most leadership falls.  It’s what caused Lucifer to fall from heaven and has tripped up thousands, if not millions of leaders through the ages.

I have four things I pray for myself every single day and Pride is one the four. I’m asking Jesus to keep me humble and dependent, since everything I have, everything I know, everything I can do and everything I am by way of gifting and capacity are sheer gifts from God.

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. aFor in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23-24 (ESV)

So, what do I have to be proud of? Nothing but the Lord Jesus Christ!