Part 2 – What It Means To Prepare for the 2nd Coming of Our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ
The complete condition for “humility” to be Righteous is found in James 4:10 American King James Version
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” This implies a basic understanding about God — that He is All Knowing and He is everywhere. No one can hide a truth from God. A person who practices “self-righteousness” is certainly known to God not as a Righteous Person but a “self-righteous”, proud being.
Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but with humility comes Wisdom.”
And so there is fake humility in the sight of the Lord; there is also genuine humility. Preparing for the 2nd coming of Jesus requires authentic humility founded on truth and some knowledge of God. Obviously, for those who do not know God other than His being an Almighty Creator, the first step will have to be a sincere desire to know God better by reading Words of God in the bible or by listening to preachers who speak Words of God. If they have children, they ought to send them to schools that teach Christianity.
In the Catholic Church, we practice Infant Baptism to expedite entry of our children into The Way to Salvation, so that by Faith in God, the Holy Spirit can intervene early for the benefit of both children and parents. Other Christian Churches practice the same Infant Baptism — Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and other Reformed denominations, Methodists and some Nazarenes, and the Moravian Church. [Source: Google]
Of course, we can always question why such traditions came to be practiced. Humility in the sight of God would call for admission of initial ignorance compared to those who already studied Words of God. Therefore, a new believer or not so well educated follower of Jesus must simply OBEY certain Church doctrines. Question later. Secure salvation first at the earliest possible time. Then seek the Truth by studying Words of God.
As children, we did not know much. Yet this is the promise of Jesus Christ for all children.
Matthew 18:3 ISV International Standard Version
“Then he said, “I tell all of you with certainty, unless you change and become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom from heaven.”
To some extent, even after growing up, we have to maintain the attitude of accepting the Truth that our knowledge is limited whereas God’s knowledge is infinite. Therefore, to some extent, we have to be like children of God always praying for answers about things we can’t seem to comprehend. This is humility in the sight of God.