September 19, 2025 • 23 mins
In this episode of the One Yes At A Time podcast, hosts Susan Dies and Keidra Hobley explore the meaning of humility from both a person and biblical standpoint. The conversation begins by exploring the meaning of humility, its linguistic roots, and how it is often defined by what it is not - namely the absence of pride. The hosts reference scientific studies showing that talking about oneself activates pleasure centers in the brain, which helps explain the addictive nature of social media and why humility can be challenging in a self-focused culture. They discuss the importance of shifting focus from self to God and others as a means of becoming more humble, and how our culture's focus on self, especially through social media, makes humility challenging for most people. They share biblical insights, highlighting that true humility means valuing others above ourselves and following the example of Jesus. The hosts emphasize that humility is a daily choice and a key to spiritual growth and experiencing God's blessings. The episode encourages listeners to practice daily surrender and dependence on God and serving others with compassion and love, as ways of practicing humility. The episode closes with a prayer and an announcement that this is the 10th and final episode of season 1, with season 2 launching November 6, 2025.
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Episode Transcript
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Susan Dies (00:00):
Welcome to the One Yes at A Time podcast.
(00:02):
My name is Susan Dies, and I'mhere with my co-host, Kera
Hobley, and today we are talkingabout no one's favorite subject.
Mm.
Today's topic is Say Yes toHumility.
Keidra Hobley (00:11):
Yes.
Susan Dies (00:12):
Keidra, when you hear the word humility, what is
the first thing that comes intoyour mind?
Keidra Hobley (00:16):
I actually studied humility years ago, and
the thing that I learned thenwas I believe it comes from the
root word humilis.
And that root word means dirt.
I know.
That got me.
And so it really struck me.
To be humble means to rememberthat we were created from dirt.
Susan Dies (00:35):
Oh, wow.
Keidra Hobley (00:36):
And if we keep that perspective...
it makes it much easier toremain humble.
Susan Dies (00:41):
I have never heard of that.
Mm-hmm.
I did look up the wordhumility..
Okay...
in the Miriam Websterdictionary, and it said not
haughty or proud.
Yeah.
Freedom from Pride...
and I thought it was interestingthat they defined it by what
it's not..
Uhhuh...
rather than by what it is.
And I think maybe that's becausewe all know what pride is.
Mm-hmm.
Pride is the opposite ofhumility.
(01:03):
It's a very recognizable trait.
Prideful people are alwaysself-focused, and when you're
trying to have a conversationwith someone who's prideful, it
seems that no matter what you'retalking about, what direction
the conversation is going,somehow they're always able to
turn the conversation and theattention to right back to them.
Yeah.
And the reason I said thathumility is no one's favorite
(01:25):
subject is because I recentlyread several articles that cited
these studies that were doneback in 2012 by some Harvard
University professors, and thiswas published in the proceedings
of the National Academy ofSciences.
And researchers used functionalMRI scans to determine what
happens in the human brain whenpeople talk about themselves.
(01:46):
What they found is that theareas in the brain that are
associated with pleasure andreward increased significantly
in activity in that area of thebrain when people talked about
themselves.
The study showed that the sameareas of our brain that are
triggered by the pleasure we getfrom sex, or money..
Mm-hmm...
or drugs...
or even the pleasure of laughterthat we have with people we love
(02:08):
is the same areas of our brainthat are triggered when we talk
about ourselves.
Wow.
Proving...
that we are our own favoritesubject.
Keidra Hobley (02:15):
Oh my goodness.
Susan Dies (02:16):
What do you think about that?
Keidra Hobley (02:17):
That blows my mind, you know?
Especially as someone who doesnot like to talk about herself.
Mm-hmm.
I need to get that scan of mybrain, see what happens.
Susan Dies (02:25):
Maybe you're truly humble.
Keidra Hobley (02:26):
Well, praise the Lord.
Susan Dies (02:27):
But basically we get a dopamine hit..
Mm-hmm...
every time we talk aboutourselves, which kind of
explains why people love socialmedia platforms so much.
Mm-hmm.
Why social media is soaddictive.
Dopamine, which we know is thatfeel good neurotransmitter in
the brain is released every timewe experience something that
gives us pleasure.
And we get that every time wepost something on social
(02:49):
media...
and someone likes it...
or someone makes a positivecomment about that thing that
we've posted.
Mm-hmm.
And I know you're not on socialmedia, right?
No.
No, I'm not.
And i'm only on itintermittently.
But this is a real phenomenon.
It's also why people can gettheir feelings hurt, or they can
get upset, if they postsomething and others don't like
it, or they don't make a commenton a picture or a post, because
(03:12):
so many people are looking totheir social media accounts,
these days, for affirmation andeven for pleasure.
This is the world that we livein.
Mm-hmm.
And so the digital age hasallowed us to make it all about
us, which is not only unhealthy,but it can also be dangerous,
and it is the exact opposite ofwhat God wants the focus of our
(03:32):
life to be.
And so I want you to just talk alittle bit about your thoughts
on that, and maybe even why youdecided not to be on social
media.
Keidra Hobley (03:41):
Oh, well that's, that's a whole podcast in
itself.
Oh goodness.
But I, I mean, I literally don'tlike to talk about myself.
I really don't like to takepictures.
And so that seemed to be all itwas initially...
the selfies.
I, I'm, I'm not a selfie girl.
Mm-hmm.
And so I don't want it to beabout me.
And so that's what social medialooks like to me.
Mm-hmm.
And so I didn't want any partsof that.
Not to mention the fact that I,I don't need one more thing to
(04:04):
manage.
Susan Dies (04:05):
Okay.
Okay.
That's fair.
To me...
social media is really kind ofthis two-edged sword.
It can be used for great good.
Mm-hmm.
Or it can be used for greatharm.
And I think the more people useit, and the more that we're on
it, in any given day, the moreopportunity there is for us to
be exposed to the best in peopleand the worst in people.
(04:25):
Some people that we've nevereven met..
Yeah...
yet who can have such a profoundeffect on our lives.
But I wanna share a few morethings from this study that I
thought were kind of actuallyfunny that really ties into our
topic of humility for today'spodcast.
At one point in the study,researchers offered these
participants 4 cents for everyquestion they answered about
(04:47):
other people, and only 2 centsfor every question they answered
about themselves.
Which questions do you thinkthey chose to answer?
Keidra Hobley (04:55):
The 2 cent questions.
Susan Dies (04:58):
They did Exactly.
They chose to answer the 2 centquestions so that they could
keep talking..
Oh, wow...
about themselves.
And those doing the researchbelieve that that's because the
activity or the stimulation ofthose reward areas in the brain
weren't quite as strong whenthey were talking about others
as it is when we're talkingabout ourselves.
And so because we are pleasuredriven, we innately do the thing
(05:21):
that brings us the most pleasurewhich is one of the reasons that
humility is just so difficultfor so many people.
Another interesting thing aboutthat research is they found that
about 40% of our dailyface-to-face conversations with
other people is about ourselves.
Wow.
Our experiences, our beliefs,our opinions, our wants, our
(05:42):
needs, our desires.
But when it comes to ourinteractions on social media,
80%..
Oh my goodness...
of what people talk about andpost about is themselves.
Keidra Hobley (05:52):
You know what's interesting about that
statistic..
Mm-hmm...
is that I don't think we'rehaving as many face-to-face
conversations as we used to.
That's right.
There's so much more socialmedia interaction..
Right...
than there is face to face.
Susan Dies (06:02):
Well, and what's interesting too is, on social
media you have this false sensethat you know the other person.
You feel like you're connected,and yet you've never even met
that person.
Right.
Honestly, if I look at my ownFacebook page, the majority of
what I post is about the people,and the places, and the things
that bring me pleasure.
And when people like it...
(06:22):
or they comment on it in apositive way...
I do enjoy it.
That is the point of socialmedia.
But it's also why I limit mytime on social media, because we
do live in a very me centeredworld.
Yeah.
And as someone who wants to livemy life in a way that honors
God, I don't want my world to beall about me.
I want my life to be all aboutGod.
I want it to be about others...
(06:44):
and I know that's what his wordcommands us to do...
to lift up the name of Jesus andto love others by lifting them
up.
And I can't do that if I make itall about me.
In fact, Philippians 2:3-4 says,"Do nothing out of selfish
ambition or vain conceit.
Rather, in humility, valueothers above yourselves.
Let each of you look not only toyour own interest, but also to
(07:07):
the interest of others." And Ithink this verse, gives us the
best and probably the clearestdefinition of what biblical
humility is supposed to looklike..
Mm-hmm...
in practice.
Humble people care about otherpeople.
Yeah.
Humble people value other peopleabove themselves, and anything
that we think, do, or say thatelevates others more than we're
(07:28):
elevating ourselves...
especially when we're doing itin obedience to God...
which is what we talked about inour last podcast..
Mm-hmm...
is an act of humility thathonors God, and that honors
other people.
Keidra Hobley (07:39):
Yeah.
Susan Dies (07:40):
So what are some other verses, that could give us
a better understanding of whathumility might look like?
Keidra Hobley (07:45):
Well, there's a ton of them and so, I'll just
mention a few, but Philippians2:5-11, it says,"In your
relationships with one another,have the same mindset as Christ
Jesus who being in very natureGod, did not consider equality
with God something to be used tohis own advantage.
Rather, he made himself nothingby taking the very nature of a
(08:08):
servant, being made in humanlikeness, and being found in
appearance as a man, he humbledhimself by becoming obedient to
death, even death on a cross.
Mm.
Therefore, God exalted him tothe highest place and gave him
the name that is above everyname.
At that name of Jesus, everyknee should bow, in heaven and
(08:31):
on earth and under the earth,and every tongue acknowledged
that Jesus Christ is Lord to theglory of God the Father.
That's just one of many.
You want me to share a couplemore?
Susan Dies (08:41):
I want you to share a few more.
Keidra Hobley (08:42):
Well, one of my absolutely favorite verses, it's
actually my life verse Ephesians4:1-2.
"As a prisoner for the Lord,then, I urge you to live a life
worthy of the calling you havereceived." We can't walk in the
calling we've received.
If we don't walk humbly.
That's right.
So that's verse one.
Verse two says,"Be completelyhumble and gentle.
Be patient bearing one anotherin love."
Susan Dies (09:05):
I love that.
So out of all the verses inscripture, all the verses in the
whole Bible..
Keidra Hobley (09:11):
Ephesians 4:1 is the one I choose.
Susan Dies (09:12):
And it's because it reminds you that you wanna walk
in a manner that is worthy ofyour calling in Christ.
Yes.
I love that.
Keidra Hobley (09:19):
It keeps it before me.
Yeah, it's a constant reminder.
Keidra, is what you're choosingto wear in alignment with your
calling?
Mm-hmm.
Is where you're choosing to goin alignment with your calling?
Is what it's about to come outtayour mouth in alignment with
your calling?
So that's why that one strikesme so much.
That's a constant reminder.
I see that.
Yeah.
That's a great life first.
Yeah.
I'm glad you shared that.
And then Romans 12:16 says,"Livein harmony with one another.
(09:42):
Do not be proud, but be willingto associate with people of low
position.
Do not be conceited.
It's interesting to me how manytimes the Bible tells us, don't
be conceited." Mm.
Colossians 3:12,"Therefore, asGod's chosen people, holy and
dearly loved, clothe yourselfwith compassion kindness,
humility, gentleness, andpatience."
Susan Dies (10:06):
So people who are humble are also gentle, and
patient, and loving..
Mm-hmm...
even when someone's beingdifficult.
Yeah.
When you mentioned Romans12:16..
In this verse, we see thathumble people wanna live in
harmony with other people.
They do what they can to bringpeace and harmony to
relationships and situationsrather than add to the chaos or
(10:26):
to the drama.
And I love that because I don'tdo drama.
You don't do drama.
I don't do drama.
Colossians 3:12..
This is one of my favoriteverses because I like this word
picture.
"Clothe yourselves..
Mm-hmm...
just like the choice we makeevery single day regarding what
clothes we're gonna put on,humility is a character trait,
just like compassion, andkindness, and gentleness, and
(10:47):
patience, that we can choose toput on every single day as well.
And so I love that in thisverse, humility is sandwiched
between these other wonderfultraits.
Yeah.
And then..
Yeah.
I was thinking about 1 Peter3:8.
It says,"Finally, all of you belike-minded.
Mm-hmm.
Be sympathetic.
Love one another.
Be compassionate and humble."And I like this phrase
(11:08):
like-minded because I thinktruly humble people want to hear
the thoughts and the opinions,and ideas and beliefs of others.
And if possible, find somecommon ground..
Yes...
to be like-minded.
And even if they can't, to atleast be loving, and
compassionate as they listen andrespectfully disagree.
So these are all great versesthat really kind of help us see
(11:29):
the kinds of character traitsthat people who walk in humility
possess...
how they act, and react, andrespond in relationships with
others.
But our ultimate example ofhumility is, as you said, those
verses that you read inPhilippians about Jesus.
Mm-hmm.
And I can't help thinking, everytime I read those verses, that
even though Jesus was God'sson..
(11:49):
Yeah...
like God in the flesh...
he humbled himself under hisfather's authority.
The Bible is telling us that thecross was the Father's plan.
Mm-hmm.
And that Jesus agreed to thisplan...
and he willingly emptiedhimself...
coming to earth in the same waythat the rest of us do...
as a helpless baby..
Yeah...
even though he was God.
I mean, talk about humbleyourself.
(12:10):
And he lived in relativepoverty.
Mm-hmm.
And so he didn't come as theking that he was.
And then he willingly gave hislife on the cross for anyone
willing to believe, even hisenemies.
Not just those who willinglyfollowed him.
and it says the result of hiswillingness to humble himself in
this way was that God the Fatherexalted him.
(12:30):
Yeah.
God raised him from the dead,gave him the name above all
names.
Mm-hmm.
And one day whether people wantto or not, whether they believe
they're gonna do it or not,scripture tells us that every
knee will bow..
Yes...
and every tongue we'll confessthat Jesus Christ is Lord..
Yeah...
to the glory of God the Father.
And to me, what's so incredibleabout all of this, as if there's
(12:52):
anything more incredible thanthat, is that when we..
Mm-hmm...
willingly humble ourselves, andwhen we as believers walk in
humility as God's word commandsus to do, God exalts us.
Yes.
I wanna read some verses for ourlisteners so that they can know
i'm not making this up.
Psalm 149:4 says,"For the Lordtakes delight in his people.
(13:12):
He crowns the humble withvictory." That's so good.
Matthew 23:12.
"But whoever has exalted himselfshall be humbled and whoever has
humbled himself shall beexalted." That's good.
James 4:10.
"Humble yourselves before theLord and he will lift you up."
Amen.
1 Peter 5:6.
"Humble yourselves, therefore,under God's mighty hand that he
(13:34):
may lift you up in due time." SoGod exalts, he takes delight in
us.
He gives victory to us.
And he lifts up those who arewilling to humble themselves.
But God's word also tells us inDaniel 4:37, that for those who
are unwilling to humblethemselves, that God knows how
to humble those who walk inpride.
Yes, he does.
(13:54):
Yeah.
James 4:6 says,"God resists theproud, but he gives grace to the
humble." Why do you think Godresists the proud so much?
Mm-hmm.
Because it's the characteristicthat got Satan kicked out of
heaven.
That's right.
Yeah.
I think, I think one of thethings that we don't realize is
that, he's able to humble.
That's humility.
Like humility is perfectedthrough humiliation.
(14:16):
Hmm.
To, yeah, I think I said thatright.
You have to think about that.
Yeah, I did too.
I did too.
But that's what I do.
I thought about that earlier.
I like, I think it is..
So we have to go through aseason of humiliation to
actually be able to walk inhumility.
Is that what you're saying?
Yes, And we don't really knowthe strength and grace of God if
we never experience weakness andhumiliation.
(14:36):
Hmm.
And so it's, it, it kinda givesyou a different perspective of
it when you look at it that way.
Right.
I think it's also because we arenever more like Satan than when
we walk in pride..
Mm-hmm...
because that is where sinoriginated.
Mm-hmm.
You know, before man sinnedSatan had already allowed that
sin of pride to cause him torebel against God...
and to incite one third of theother angels to rebel against
(14:57):
God..
Yeah.
And we know that God cast themout of heaven.
They had no fear of God.
Mm-hmm.
And so when Satan tempted Adamand Eve to sin, his ploy was to
make them think that they hadnothing to fear by disobeying
God, even though he knew betterthan anyone else that sin had
its consequences.
Yeah.
And so unfortunately, in ourpridefulness.
we set ourselves up for somereally hard lessons in humility.
(15:21):
There's this verse in Psalms55:19 that says,"He who is
before time...
talking about God..
Mm-hmm...
will humble them, for there isno change with them and they
have not feared." So this is thereason why prideful people have
no fear of God because they arein essence, their own God.
Yeah.
Right?
Keidra Hobley (15:39):
Yeah.
Susan Dies (15:39):
They think that they know best.
And so it's very hard for themto change even when they're
confronted with the truth ofGod's word.
And so sometimes in God's love,he steps in, and he will humble
us for our own good if we'reunwilling.
And I can tell you from my ownexperiences that it is so much
better to be humbled by God,even though it's usually, a
(16:00):
painful lesson, than it is towalk in pride...
because the Bible tells usclearly that pride comes before
a fall.
That's right.
And so I've been there and it isso much easier just to hear
God's word...
humble ourselves...
than it is to ignore his wordand to have to learn those
lessons of humility the hardway.
But what I love so much aboutGod is that when he does humble
(16:20):
us...
it's not to break us.
Mm-hmm.
It's always to teach us that hisway is better.
And we see that in Psalm 119:71,where it says,"It is good for me
that you humbled me so that Imay learn your ways." Yeah.
There's another verse.
I'm not sure what the bookchapter and verse is, but it
says,"Before I was afflicted, Iwent astray.
(16:41):
Yeah.
But now I keep your word." Godwants us to experience all that
he has for us, but we have tostart with a heart of humility.
2 Chronicles 7 (16:48):
14 is a verse that all of us are familiar
with.
"If my people..
Mm-hmm...
who are called by my name..
Yeah...
will humble themselves and pray,and seek my face, and turn from
their wicked ways, then I willhear from heaven and I will
forgive their sin, and I willheal their land." Yeah.
I mean, that's a mouthful ofpromises.
(17:09):
Yeah.
but it begins with a heart.
of humility.
So what are some other thoughtsthat you have about this topic..
Yeah...
of humility?
Keidra Hobley (17:17):
I think just the podcast itself.
One Yes At A Time.
It's all about surrender.
Mm-hmm.
And I believe that fullsurrender is the greatest form
of true humility.
Mm-hmm.
And so a, a part of that isdying to self.
So I kind of wanna just take aminute to focus on dying to
self, because humility is notjust about the absence of
exalting yourself, it's also thepresence of denying yourself.
(17:38):
Hmm.
That's something that I, Ithought was very interesting.
The presence of God is greatestwhen the absence of self is
greatest.
Right.
Right.
And so sometimes we don'trealize it, but you mentioned
the social media, the dopaminehits.
Mm-hmm.
That's us being full ofourselves and until we become
nothing, God can't become all.
Think about it.
You can't have a glass full ofwater and full of soda at the
(18:02):
same time.
Right?
You have to empty one out inorder for it to be full of the
other.
And we have to empty ourselvesof ourselves so that we can be
full of him.
You can't be full of God andfull of yourself at the same
time.
And so some of us don't need tobe delivered from a demon...
come on and when need todelivered from ourselves of some
of us need to be delivered fromourselves.
And so we have to be mindful ofthat.
(18:22):
The more I empty myself, themore of God I can be filled
with.
And so we, have to realize thatwe lose absolutely nothing by
choosing to give our entire lifeto God.
Humility..
Mm-hmm...
is all that's left when we'refully surrendered.
Susan Dies (18:36):
Right.
That's so good.
Mm-hmm.
All of that is so good.
I'm gonna circle back aroundreal quick to the verse in 2
Chronicles 7:14.
Okay.
Just thinking about, you know,where we are as a country right
now.
There's no doubt that ourcountry and our world is in a
mess...
that we're spinning outtacontrol so fast.
And it's so easy for us to feelhelpless and hopeless because we
(18:56):
know, that without God'sintervention, we are gonna
self-destruct because of ourpride.
Mm-hmm.
But in this verse, God istelling believers there is
something that we can do.
Yeah.
We're not helpless.
And we're not hopeless...
because if God's people,Christians around the world..
Yeah...
will humble ourselves, and pray,and seek his face, and turn from
our wicked ways..
He's talking to believers.
(19:17):
Yes.
He's not talking tonon-believers who don't even
know what his commands are.
This is to believers.
It says,"Then..
Mm-hmm..
He will hear from heaven.
He will forgive our sin, he willheal our land.
And our land, America, wasfounded on Christian principles.
I don't care what anyone says,what arguments anyone wants to
bring.
That is a fact, and only thosewho have no fear of God, no
(19:41):
desire to honor God, no desireto obey God would say otherwise.
Our entire legal system is basedon God's commands.
Mm-hmm.
Our calendar is based on thebirth of Jesus.
His fingerprints, God'sfingerprints, are all over our
constitution and our laws, andhe gave us this land so that we
might be a blessing to theworld, a beacon of hope as a
(20:02):
Christian nation.
So I just like to encourage andchallenge our listeners to be
willing to humble themselves..
Yeah...
as God has asked us to do...
trusting that he will then do ashe's promised.
I think it's time for us asbelievers, to humble ourselves
for the glory of God and for thepeople that we love and for this
land that we cherish, and Ithink Micah 6:8 tells us pretty
(20:25):
clearly exactly what God expectsof believers.
It says,"God has shown you whatis good.
Mm-hmm.
We know...
and what does the Lord requireof you?" Yeah.
Just in case you're stillunsure.
Mm-hmm.
"To act justly, to love mercy..
Mm-hmm...
and to walk humbly with yourGod." Mm-hmm.
What are your last thoughts?
(20:46):
Last thing You wanna leave withlisteners today about this topic
Keidra Hobley (20:50):
I, I want to encourage you to be completely
dependent on God.
That's what humility is allabout.
It's a complete, totaldependence on God, full
surrender, honoring people,serving with joy, not being
jealous, quick to forgive.
Mm-hmm.
That is characteristic of atruly humble person.
Susan Dies (21:10):
That's right.
And you know what?
We cannot do it without Jesus.
Mm-hmm.
We need his spirit of humilityliving in us..
Yes...
to be able to do the things thatwe've talked about today, and
especially the last things thatyou've mentioned.
Amen.
Alright! Well I'm gonna have youpray us out in just a minute,
but first, we hope you'veenjoyed today's podcast and that
you've been encouraged.
(21:30):
Hopefully you've beenchallenged, knowing that when we
do what God has asked us to dohis blessings are always on the
other side of our yes.
And one thing I wanna let youknow as we close out today's
podcast is that today's episodeis the 10th episode and the end
of season one.
And so we're gonna take a breakin the month of October to plan
out season two, and that firstepisode will be available on
(21:53):
your favorite platform November6th.
So be sure to join us.
It'll be a great season ofgrowth in your life as together
we continue putting God's wordinto practice...
one yes at a time.
Keidra, would you pray us outtoday?
Keidra Hobley (22:05):
Absolutely.
Father, we thank you so much forthis day.
We thank you for this time inyour presence.
Help us, dear Lord, to do whatit is you instruct us to do and
to walk humbly before you.
Help us to love people like youlove people.
Jesus, if you were the holiestperson who ever walked this
earth and was also the humblestperson whoever walked this
earth, then surely we could seekto do the same.
(22:25):
So help us to be more like you.
Yes, we thank you for it.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Amen.
Welcome to the One Yes at A Time podcast.
(00:02):
My name is Susan Dies, and I'mhere with my co-host, Kera
Hobley, and today we are talkingabout no one's favorite subject.
Mm.
Today's topic is Say Yes toHumility.
Keidra Hobley (00:11):
Yes.
Susan Dies (00:12):
Keidra, when you hear the word humility, what is
the first thing that comes intoyour mind?
Keidra Hobley (00:16):
I actually studied humility years ago, and
the thing that I learned thenwas I believe it comes from the
root word humilis.
And that root word means dirt.
I know.
That got me.
And so it really struck me.
To be humble means to rememberthat we were created from dirt.
Susan Dies (00:35):
Oh, wow.
Keidra Hobley (00:36):
And if we keep that perspective...
it makes it much easier toremain humble.
Susan Dies (00:41):
I have never heard of that.
Mm-hmm.
I did look up the wordhumility..
Okay...
in the Miriam Websterdictionary, and it said not
haughty or proud.
Yeah.
Freedom from Pride...
and I thought it was interestingthat they defined it by what
it's not..
Uhhuh...
rather than by what it is.
And I think maybe that's becausewe all know what pride is.
Mm-hmm.
Pride is the opposite ofhumility.
(01:03):
It's a very recognizable trait.
Prideful people are alwaysself-focused, and when you're
trying to have a conversationwith someone who's prideful, it
seems that no matter what you'retalking about, what direction
the conversation is going,somehow they're always able to
turn the conversation and theattention to right back to them.
Yeah.
And the reason I said thathumility is no one's favorite
(01:25):
subject is because I recentlyread several articles that cited
these studies that were doneback in 2012 by some Harvard
University professors, and thiswas published in the proceedings
of the National Academy ofSciences.
And researchers used functionalMRI scans to determine what
happens in the human brain whenpeople talk about themselves.
(01:46):
What they found is that theareas in the brain that are
associated with pleasure andreward increased significantly
in activity in that area of thebrain when people talked about
themselves.
The study showed that the sameareas of our brain that are
triggered by the pleasure we getfrom sex, or money..
Mm-hmm...
or drugs...
or even the pleasure of laughterthat we have with people we love
(02:08):
is the same areas of our brainthat are triggered when we talk
about ourselves.
Wow.
Proving...
that we are our own favoritesubject.
Keidra Hobley (02:15):
Oh my goodness.
Susan Dies (02:16):
What do you think about that?
Keidra Hobley (02:17):
That blows my mind, you know?
Especially as someone who doesnot like to talk about herself.
Mm-hmm.
I need to get that scan of mybrain, see what happens.
Susan Dies (02:25):
Maybe you're truly humble.
Keidra Hobley (02:26):
Well, praise the Lord.
Susan Dies (02:27):
But basically we get a dopamine hit..
Mm-hmm...
every time we talk aboutourselves, which kind of
explains why people love socialmedia platforms so much.
Mm-hmm.
Why social media is soaddictive.
Dopamine, which we know is thatfeel good neurotransmitter in
the brain is released every timewe experience something that
gives us pleasure.
And we get that every time wepost something on social
(02:49):
media...
and someone likes it...
or someone makes a positivecomment about that thing that
we've posted.
Mm-hmm.
And I know you're not on socialmedia, right?
No.
No, I'm not.
And i'm only on itintermittently.
But this is a real phenomenon.
It's also why people can gettheir feelings hurt, or they can
get upset, if they postsomething and others don't like
it, or they don't make a commenton a picture or a post, because
(03:12):
so many people are looking totheir social media accounts,
these days, for affirmation andeven for pleasure.
This is the world that we livein.
Mm-hmm.
And so the digital age hasallowed us to make it all about
us, which is not only unhealthy,but it can also be dangerous,
and it is the exact opposite ofwhat God wants the focus of our
(03:32):
life to be.
And so I want you to just talk alittle bit about your thoughts
on that, and maybe even why youdecided not to be on social
media.
Keidra Hobley (03:41):
Oh, well that's, that's a whole podcast in
itself.
Oh goodness.
But I, I mean, I literally don'tlike to talk about myself.
I really don't like to takepictures.
And so that seemed to be all itwas initially...
the selfies.
I, I'm, I'm not a selfie girl.
Mm-hmm.
And so I don't want it to beabout me.
And so that's what social medialooks like to me.
Mm-hmm.
And so I didn't want any partsof that.
Not to mention the fact that I,I don't need one more thing to
(04:04):
manage.
Susan Dies (04:05):
Okay.
Okay.
That's fair.
To me...
social media is really kind ofthis two-edged sword.
It can be used for great good.
Mm-hmm.
Or it can be used for greatharm.
And I think the more people useit, and the more that we're on
it, in any given day, the moreopportunity there is for us to
be exposed to the best in peopleand the worst in people.
(04:25):
Some people that we've nevereven met..
Yeah...
yet who can have such a profoundeffect on our lives.
But I wanna share a few morethings from this study that I
thought were kind of actuallyfunny that really ties into our
topic of humility for today'spodcast.
At one point in the study,researchers offered these
participants 4 cents for everyquestion they answered about
(04:47):
other people, and only 2 centsfor every question they answered
about themselves.
Which questions do you thinkthey chose to answer?
Keidra Hobley (04:55):
The 2 cent questions.
Susan Dies (04:58):
They did Exactly.
They chose to answer the 2 centquestions so that they could
keep talking..
Oh, wow...
about themselves.
And those doing the researchbelieve that that's because the
activity or the stimulation ofthose reward areas in the brain
weren't quite as strong whenthey were talking about others
as it is when we're talkingabout ourselves.
And so because we are pleasuredriven, we innately do the thing
(05:21):
that brings us the most pleasurewhich is one of the reasons that
humility is just so difficultfor so many people.
Another interesting thing aboutthat research is they found that
about 40% of our dailyface-to-face conversations with
other people is about ourselves.
Wow.
Our experiences, our beliefs,our opinions, our wants, our
(05:42):
needs, our desires.
But when it comes to ourinteractions on social media,
80%..
Oh my goodness...
of what people talk about andpost about is themselves.
Keidra Hobley (05:52):
You know what's interesting about that
statistic..
Mm-hmm...
is that I don't think we'rehaving as many face-to-face
conversations as we used to.
That's right.
There's so much more socialmedia interaction..
Right...
than there is face to face.
Susan Dies (06:02):
Well, and what's interesting too is, on social
media you have this false sensethat you know the other person.
You feel like you're connected,and yet you've never even met
that person.
Right.
Honestly, if I look at my ownFacebook page, the majority of
what I post is about the people,and the places, and the things
that bring me pleasure.
And when people like it...
(06:22):
or they comment on it in apositive way...
I do enjoy it.
That is the point of socialmedia.
But it's also why I limit mytime on social media, because we
do live in a very me centeredworld.
Yeah.
And as someone who wants to livemy life in a way that honors
God, I don't want my world to beall about me.
I want my life to be all aboutGod.
I want it to be about others...
(06:44):
and I know that's what his wordcommands us to do...
to lift up the name of Jesus andto love others by lifting them
up.
And I can't do that if I make itall about me.
In fact, Philippians 2:3-4 says,"Do nothing out of selfish
ambition or vain conceit.
Rather, in humility, valueothers above yourselves.
Let each of you look not only toyour own interest, but also to
(07:07):
the interest of others." And Ithink this verse, gives us the
best and probably the clearestdefinition of what biblical
humility is supposed to looklike..
Mm-hmm...
in practice.
Humble people care about otherpeople.
Yeah.
Humble people value other peopleabove themselves, and anything
that we think, do, or say thatelevates others more than we're
(07:28):
elevating ourselves...
especially when we're doing itin obedience to God...
which is what we talked about inour last podcast..
Mm-hmm...
is an act of humility thathonors God, and that honors
other people.
Keidra Hobley (07:39):
Yeah.
Susan Dies (07:40):
So what are some other verses, that could give us
a better understanding of whathumility might look like?
Keidra Hobley (07:45):
Well, there's a ton of them and so, I'll just
mention a few, but Philippians2:5-11, it says,"In your
relationships with one another,have the same mindset as Christ
Jesus who being in very natureGod, did not consider equality
with God something to be used tohis own advantage.
Rather, he made himself nothingby taking the very nature of a
(08:08):
servant, being made in humanlikeness, and being found in
appearance as a man, he humbledhimself by becoming obedient to
death, even death on a cross.
Mm.
Therefore, God exalted him tothe highest place and gave him
the name that is above everyname.
At that name of Jesus, everyknee should bow, in heaven and
(08:31):
on earth and under the earth,and every tongue acknowledged
that Jesus Christ is Lord to theglory of God the Father.
That's just one of many.
You want me to share a couplemore?
Susan Dies (08:41):
I want you to share a few more.
Keidra Hobley (08:42):
Well, one of my absolutely favorite verses, it's
actually my life verse Ephesians4:1-2.
"As a prisoner for the Lord,then, I urge you to live a life
worthy of the calling you havereceived." We can't walk in the
calling we've received.
If we don't walk humbly.
That's right.
So that's verse one.
Verse two says,"Be completelyhumble and gentle.
Be patient bearing one anotherin love."
Susan Dies (09:05):
I love that.
So out of all the verses inscripture, all the verses in the
whole Bible..
Keidra Hobley (09:11):
Ephesians 4:1 is the one I choose.
Susan Dies (09:12):
And it's because it reminds you that you wanna walk
in a manner that is worthy ofyour calling in Christ.
Yes.
I love that.
Keidra Hobley (09:19):
It keeps it before me.
Yeah, it's a constant reminder.
Keidra, is what you're choosingto wear in alignment with your
calling?
Mm-hmm.
Is where you're choosing to goin alignment with your calling?
Is what it's about to come outtayour mouth in alignment with
your calling?
So that's why that one strikesme so much.
That's a constant reminder.
I see that.
Yeah.
That's a great life first.
Yeah.
I'm glad you shared that.
And then Romans 12:16 says,"Livein harmony with one another.
(09:42):
Do not be proud, but be willingto associate with people of low
position.
Do not be conceited.
It's interesting to me how manytimes the Bible tells us, don't
be conceited." Mm.
Colossians 3:12,"Therefore, asGod's chosen people, holy and
dearly loved, clothe yourselfwith compassion kindness,
humility, gentleness, andpatience."
Susan Dies (10:06):
So people who are humble are also gentle, and
patient, and loving..
Mm-hmm...
even when someone's beingdifficult.
Yeah.
When you mentioned Romans12:16..
In this verse, we see thathumble people wanna live in
harmony with other people.
They do what they can to bringpeace and harmony to
relationships and situationsrather than add to the chaos or
(10:26):
to the drama.
And I love that because I don'tdo drama.
You don't do drama.
I don't do drama.
Colossians 3:12..
This is one of my favoriteverses because I like this word
picture.
"Clothe yourselves..
Mm-hmm...
just like the choice we makeevery single day regarding what
clothes we're gonna put on,humility is a character trait,
just like compassion, andkindness, and gentleness, and
(10:47):
patience, that we can choose toput on every single day as well.
And so I love that in thisverse, humility is sandwiched
between these other wonderfultraits.
Yeah.
And then..
Yeah.
I was thinking about 1 Peter3:8.
It says,"Finally, all of you belike-minded.
Mm-hmm.
Be sympathetic.
Love one another.
Be compassionate and humble."And I like this phrase
(11:08):
like-minded because I thinktruly humble people want to hear
the thoughts and the opinions,and ideas and beliefs of others.
And if possible, find somecommon ground..
Yes...
to be like-minded.
And even if they can't, to atleast be loving, and
compassionate as they listen andrespectfully disagree.
So these are all great versesthat really kind of help us see
(11:29):
the kinds of character traitsthat people who walk in humility
possess...
how they act, and react, andrespond in relationships with
others.
But our ultimate example ofhumility is, as you said, those
verses that you read inPhilippians about Jesus.
Mm-hmm.
And I can't help thinking, everytime I read those verses, that
even though Jesus was God'sson..
(11:49):
Yeah...
like God in the flesh...
he humbled himself under hisfather's authority.
The Bible is telling us that thecross was the Father's plan.
Mm-hmm.
And that Jesus agreed to thisplan...
and he willingly emptiedhimself...
coming to earth in the same waythat the rest of us do...
as a helpless baby..
Yeah...
even though he was God.
I mean, talk about humbleyourself.
(12:10):
And he lived in relativepoverty.
Mm-hmm.
And so he didn't come as theking that he was.
And then he willingly gave hislife on the cross for anyone
willing to believe, even hisenemies.
Not just those who willinglyfollowed him.
and it says the result of hiswillingness to humble himself in
this way was that God the Fatherexalted him.
(12:30):
Yeah.
God raised him from the dead,gave him the name above all
names.
Mm-hmm.
And one day whether people wantto or not, whether they believe
they're gonna do it or not,scripture tells us that every
knee will bow..
Yes...
and every tongue we'll confessthat Jesus Christ is Lord..
Yeah...
to the glory of God the Father.
And to me, what's so incredibleabout all of this, as if there's
(12:52):
anything more incredible thanthat, is that when we..
Mm-hmm...
willingly humble ourselves, andwhen we as believers walk in
humility as God's word commandsus to do, God exalts us.
Yes.
I wanna read some verses for ourlisteners so that they can know
i'm not making this up.
Psalm 149:4 says,"For the Lordtakes delight in his people.
(13:12):
He crowns the humble withvictory." That's so good.
Matthew 23:12.
"But whoever has exalted himselfshall be humbled and whoever has
humbled himself shall beexalted." That's good.
James 4:10.
"Humble yourselves before theLord and he will lift you up."
Amen.
1 Peter 5:6.
"Humble yourselves, therefore,under God's mighty hand that he
(13:34):
may lift you up in due time." SoGod exalts, he takes delight in
us.
He gives victory to us.
And he lifts up those who arewilling to humble themselves.
But God's word also tells us inDaniel 4:37, that for those who
are unwilling to humblethemselves, that God knows how
to humble those who walk inpride.
Yes, he does.
(13:54):
Yeah.
James 4:6 says,"God resists theproud, but he gives grace to the
humble." Why do you think Godresists the proud so much?
Mm-hmm.
Because it's the characteristicthat got Satan kicked out of
heaven.
That's right.
Yeah.
I think, I think one of thethings that we don't realize is
that, he's able to humble.
That's humility.
Like humility is perfectedthrough humiliation.
(14:16):
Hmm.
To, yeah, I think I said thatright.
You have to think about that.
Yeah, I did too.
I did too.
But that's what I do.
I thought about that earlier.
I like, I think it is..
So we have to go through aseason of humiliation to
actually be able to walk inhumility.
Is that what you're saying?
Yes, And we don't really knowthe strength and grace of God if
we never experience weakness andhumiliation.
(14:36):
Hmm.
And so it's, it, it kinda givesyou a different perspective of
it when you look at it that way.
Right.
I think it's also because we arenever more like Satan than when
we walk in pride..
Mm-hmm...
because that is where sinoriginated.
Mm-hmm.
You know, before man sinnedSatan had already allowed that
sin of pride to cause him torebel against God...
and to incite one third of theother angels to rebel against
(14:57):
God..
Yeah.
And we know that God cast themout of heaven.
They had no fear of God.
Mm-hmm.
And so when Satan tempted Adamand Eve to sin, his ploy was to
make them think that they hadnothing to fear by disobeying
God, even though he knew betterthan anyone else that sin had
its consequences.
Yeah.
And so unfortunately, in ourpridefulness.
we set ourselves up for somereally hard lessons in humility.
(15:21):
There's this verse in Psalms55:19 that says,"He who is
before time...
talking about God..
Mm-hmm...
will humble them, for there isno change with them and they
have not feared." So this is thereason why prideful people have
no fear of God because they arein essence, their own God.
Yeah.
Right?
Keidra Hobley (15:39):
Yeah.
Susan Dies (15:39):
They think that they know best.
And so it's very hard for themto change even when they're
confronted with the truth ofGod's word.
And so sometimes in God's love,he steps in, and he will humble
us for our own good if we'reunwilling.
And I can tell you from my ownexperiences that it is so much
better to be humbled by God,even though it's usually, a
(16:00):
painful lesson, than it is towalk in pride...
because the Bible tells usclearly that pride comes before
a fall.
That's right.
And so I've been there and it isso much easier just to hear
God's word...
humble ourselves...
than it is to ignore his wordand to have to learn those
lessons of humility the hardway.
But what I love so much aboutGod is that when he does humble
(16:20):
us...
it's not to break us.
Mm-hmm.
It's always to teach us that hisway is better.
And we see that in Psalm 119:71,where it says,"It is good for me
that you humbled me so that Imay learn your ways." Yeah.
There's another verse.
I'm not sure what the bookchapter and verse is, but it
says,"Before I was afflicted, Iwent astray.
(16:41):
Yeah.
But now I keep your word." Godwants us to experience all that
he has for us, but we have tostart with a heart of humility.
2 Chronicles 7 (16:48):
14 is a verse that all of us are familiar
with.
"If my people..
Mm-hmm...
who are called by my name..
Yeah...
will humble themselves and pray,and seek my face, and turn from
their wicked ways, then I willhear from heaven and I will
forgive their sin, and I willheal their land." Yeah.
I mean, that's a mouthful ofpromises.
(17:09):
Yeah.
but it begins with a heart.
of humility.
So what are some other thoughtsthat you have about this topic..
Yeah...
of humility?
Keidra Hobley (17:17):
I think just the podcast itself.
One Yes At A Time.
It's all about surrender.
Mm-hmm.
And I believe that fullsurrender is the greatest form
of true humility.
Mm-hmm.
And so a, a part of that isdying to self.
So I kind of wanna just take aminute to focus on dying to
self, because humility is notjust about the absence of
exalting yourself, it's also thepresence of denying yourself.
(17:38):
Hmm.
That's something that I, Ithought was very interesting.
The presence of God is greatestwhen the absence of self is
greatest.
Right.
Right.
And so sometimes we don'trealize it, but you mentioned
the social media, the dopaminehits.
Mm-hmm.
That's us being full ofourselves and until we become
nothing, God can't become all.
Think about it.
You can't have a glass full ofwater and full of soda at the
(18:02):
same time.
Right?
You have to empty one out inorder for it to be full of the
other.
And we have to empty ourselvesof ourselves so that we can be
full of him.
You can't be full of God andfull of yourself at the same
time.
And so some of us don't need tobe delivered from a demon...
come on and when need todelivered from ourselves of some
of us need to be delivered fromourselves.
And so we have to be mindful ofthat.
(18:22):
The more I empty myself, themore of God I can be filled
with.
And so we, have to realize thatwe lose absolutely nothing by
choosing to give our entire lifeto God.
Humility..
Mm-hmm...
is all that's left when we'refully surrendered.
Susan Dies (18:36):
Right.
That's so good.
Mm-hmm.
All of that is so good.
I'm gonna circle back aroundreal quick to the verse in 2
Chronicles 7:14.
Okay.
Just thinking about, you know,where we are as a country right
now.
There's no doubt that ourcountry and our world is in a
mess...
that we're spinning outtacontrol so fast.
And it's so easy for us to feelhelpless and hopeless because we
(18:56):
know, that without God'sintervention, we are gonna
self-destruct because of ourpride.
Mm-hmm.
But in this verse, God istelling believers there is
something that we can do.
Yeah.
We're not helpless.
And we're not hopeless...
because if God's people,Christians around the world..
Yeah...
will humble ourselves, and pray,and seek his face, and turn from
our wicked ways..
He's talking to believers.
(19:17):
Yes.
He's not talking tonon-believers who don't even
know what his commands are.
This is to believers.
It says,"Then..
Mm-hmm..
He will hear from heaven.
He will forgive our sin, he willheal our land.
And our land, America, wasfounded on Christian principles.
I don't care what anyone says,what arguments anyone wants to
bring.
That is a fact, and only thosewho have no fear of God, no
(19:41):
desire to honor God, no desireto obey God would say otherwise.
Our entire legal system is basedon God's commands.
Mm-hmm.
Our calendar is based on thebirth of Jesus.
His fingerprints, God'sfingerprints, are all over our
constitution and our laws, andhe gave us this land so that we
might be a blessing to theworld, a beacon of hope as a
(20:02):
Christian nation.
So I just like to encourage andchallenge our listeners to be
willing to humble themselves..
Yeah...
as God has asked us to do...
trusting that he will then do ashe's promised.
I think it's time for us asbelievers, to humble ourselves
for the glory of God and for thepeople that we love and for this
land that we cherish, and Ithink Micah 6:8 tells us pretty
(20:25):
clearly exactly what God expectsof believers.
It says,"God has shown you whatis good.
Mm-hmm.
We know...
and what does the Lord requireof you?" Yeah.
Just in case you're stillunsure.
Mm-hmm.
"To act justly, to love mercy..
Mm-hmm...
and to walk humbly with yourGod." Mm-hmm.
What are your last thoughts?
(20:46):
Last thing You wanna leave withlisteners today about this topic
Keidra Hobley (20:50):
I, I want to encourage you to be completely
dependent on God.
That's what humility is allabout.
It's a complete, totaldependence on God, full
surrender, honoring people,serving with joy, not being
jealous, quick to forgive.
Mm-hmm.
That is characteristic of atruly humble person.
Susan Dies (21:10):
That's right.
And you know what?
We cannot do it without Jesus.
Mm-hmm.
We need his spirit of humilityliving in us..
Yes...
to be able to do the things thatwe've talked about today, and
especially the last things thatyou've mentioned.
Amen.
Alright! Well I'm gonna have youpray us out in just a minute,
but first, we hope you'veenjoyed today's podcast and that
you've been encouraged.
(21:30):
Hopefully you've beenchallenged, knowing that when we
do what God has asked us to dohis blessings are always on the
other side of our yes.
And one thing I wanna let youknow as we close out today's
podcast is that today's episodeis the 10th episode and the end
of season one.
And so we're gonna take a breakin the month of October to plan
out season two, and that firstepisode will be available on
(21:53):
your favorite platform November6th.
So be sure to join us.
It'll be a great season ofgrowth in your life as together
we continue putting God's wordinto practice...
one yes at a time.
Keidra, would you pray us outtoday?
Keidra Hobley (22:05):
Absolutely.
Father, we thank you so much forthis day.
We thank you for this time inyour presence.
Help us, dear Lord, to do whatit is you instruct us to do and
to walk humbly before you.
Help us to love people like youlove people.
Jesus, if you were the holiestperson who ever walked this
earth and was also the humblestperson whoever walked this
earth, then surely we could seekto do the same.
(22:25):
So help us to be more like you.
Yes, we thank you for it.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Amen.
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