It slithered its way closer to the open door. By the time I turned around, there was a mere four-foot distance between it and the entrance. I had to act fast. The problem was I didn’t know if I could use my hands to pick it up. It was the appearance of the vermin that caused me to pause. While I don’t enjoy it, I have handled snakes in the past. However, this one looked venomous.

We’ve had quite a few snakes around our house in the past couple of years. Most of them are harmless, garter or common rat snakes. This has provided my kids and me an opportunity to research and learn more about different species of snakes. One of the facts we’ve had to learn is which snakes may be poisonous and which ones are not. The tricky part of this endeavor is some snakes look venomous when they aren’t while others actually are venomous. This has reminded me of a necessary reality: looks can be deceiving, especially when it comes to character.

“…pride is sneaky. It may show up most clearly in loud, proud, over-confidence, but it’s also just as capable of motivating someone to sit down and shut up.”

Marli Scarborough

Character traits are those things that can take many forms, but really are about the heart. Character issues are revealed in action, but are all about motivations. Two people can act in the same manner with very different motivations. Two people can act in different manners with similar motivations. This is the case with humility. It is hard to nail down what it looks like in every situation. This is what caught my attention most in Marli Scarborough’s article, “How to BE Humble Instead of LOOKING Humble“. She unpacks the deception of appearance and the difficulty of character.

READ THE ARTICLE

I’ve come to recognize simple lenses to help me know if a snake is poisonous or not. And I’m still learning how best to see humility not just in others, but also myself. Humility is a hard thing to “practice”, but by God’s grace that’s the pursuit. How about you? Do you find it difficult to be humble? Why so? What are you doing to pursue that? Have you got caught in thinking humility is a personality trait more than a character trait? As always be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s Day.

Until Next Time…

Photo by James Wainscoat on Unsplash