Humility Vs. Humiliation

   I think we use these words interchangeably without really understanding the meaning behind them. Humility is the act of humbling oneself. It is not allowing pride to develop, especially when there are temptations all around us to be prideful. But humiliation has to do with putting a person down or defaming him or her. It is making a person less than human.
  I personally think that many people are reluctant to come to God because they feel humiliated when they hear that they are sinners. Perhaps it has to do with the way the person has heard the Gospel message presented prior to hearing it fresh. If we happen to see people yelling at us to repent, or name calling to those who are passing by, we will not get a sweet taste of the Gospel, but rather will have a distasteful memory of it.
  The Bible is very clear that we are to humble ourselves before the Lord. He will defend us and pick us up when we humble ourselves. But if we hold onto pride, God will resist us. God will give us the grace we need if we humble ourselves and ask for it.
  Pride also goes before a fall. Pride is a dangerous thing for us to have. But what is humiliation, and what does it look like?
  Humiliation looks much like a bully bullying someone around. Humiliation makes fun of people. Humiliation laughs at people when they fall. The person causing humiliation for another is full of pride. But God does not treat us this way. God will humble us, but He doesn't humiliate us. He doesn't put us down because of our sin. He doesn't say, 'Oh you stupid sinners. When are you ever going to figure it out?' Instead, He provides an answer for all our sin.

         There are countless examples of people who humbled themselves before God, and they received God's mercy and grace. Think about Zacchaeus. This man swindled a lot of money from people. Jesus reached out to him and invited Himself to Zacchaeus' house. Zacchaeus was now a changed man. He repented and restored what he had taken from others. Think of Peter, when Jesus was washing the disciples' feet. Peter said, 'You will never wash my feet.' to the Lord. Then the Lord told him that if He did not wash Peter's feet, then Peter would have no share in Him. Peter quickly decided that he would let Jesus wash, not only his feet, but also his whole body!
  Of course, the greatest example of humility was in God sending His Son to come to earth to live a perfect life, and to end up being crushed for our sins. This was not only an act of humility, but it was also humiliation. No one understood why this man who helped people and healed them was dying such a terrible death. No one cared either. No one stepped in and defended Jesus. He could have been released from the sentence placed on Him, but if that were to happen, then the whole purpose for His coming would have been defeated. What He went through was the most humiliating thing any human being had ever gone through.
  Humility we need to embrace. Humiliation is uncalled for. We need to be careful that we can tell the difference between the two.