Humility
January 27, 2002
Dear Friends,
One of the great paradoxes in the Bible is humbling yourself to be made great. “…be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:” (1 Peter 5:5,6)
Even Jesus had to experience this paradox firsthand. “…being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.” (Phil 2: 8,9)
Perhaps an even more intriguing paradox is how throughout the ages, men have come to believe that there was a God in heaven, and instead of being filled to the brim with a feeling of great humility, instead they became arrogant and prideful in this knowledge. There are few things that are as distasteful and off-putting as an arrogant believer. In fact, it begs the question whether one can really put those two concepts together at all — “arrogant” and “believer” — when one of the most fundamental and important attributes to any believer is humility.
We might define humility as knowing who and what we truly are in the presence of God. If we deceive ourselves about who and what we are, we can have a false sense of pride. One of my favorite passages in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 4:7 simply for the straightforward logic and the profound implication. “For who regards you as superior? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” Can we be proud of something we don’t deserve in the first place? Can we deserve “undeserved kindness” (i.e. Grace)? In short, pride is self delusion!
The prideful individual nullifies Divine grace because he or she does not see the need for it. By whatever measure they have falsely valued themselves, be it works or knowledge or wealth or whatever, they have greatly overestimated themselves in the face of their Creator. The Pharisee, despite all of his knowledge of the Scriptures, did not understand who and what he was, but prayed instead saying “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are…” The Pharisee did not see himself as a sinner which was absurd. It is only when we see our utter worthlessness that we attain value in the eyes of God. As James puts it, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” (James 4:10)
In speaking of humility, it might be helpful to say what humility is not. It is not a false valuation of your talents or abilities. You need not say you are dumb when you are smart or ugly when you are handsome. It is understanding those gifts are from God and therefore cannot be a source of arrogance. Meekness does not mean deferring to everyone on everything. Different people are suited to different tasks. Some do things better than others. Humility allows for an accurate self-assessment and the adeptness to carry out those duties without self-aggrandizement to the benefit of God and others. Humility is also not rejecting all praise. We must accept praise and criticism equally well. If we are humble, we will not love “the praise of men more than the praise of God.” (John 12:43) We cannot accept the praise of men and also attain the praise of God unless we do so humbly and with a sincere recognition of the source of our abilities.
We can rest assured that if the Lord Jesus Christ needed to learn humility in his mortal existence, we cannot escape this same lesson and be well pleasing to our Heavenly Father. If we seek glory, we must first seek humility. “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Have a great week!
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