Humility
Humility may be the most misunderstood of all spiritual
principles. Many confuse it with modesty, or worse, with fawning and
groveling of someone who frequently boasts about their own “humbleness.” But
there is no humility in this type of person, only flattery and false modesty,
neither of which has anything to do with this powerful spiritual principle.
Humility also gets confused with humiliation, that awful
experience of shame and disgrace that makes us feel worthless when it happens
to us. But the only thing humiliation has to do with humility is that
sometimes, it levels our pride enough to make us begin searching for real
humility in our lives.
What is humility? According to Webster’s 1828
Dictionary, humility is, “freedom from pride and arrogance; a modest
estimate of one’s own worth.” Biblically there are several aspects to
humility, but I want to focus on the aspect that deals with our relation to
God. So, humility is a deep sense of one’s own unworthiness in the sight
of God. Notice, I did not say it means that you have to hate yourself or
say you aren’t worth anything. Humility is that quality of a Christian
that demonstrates a right relationship and position before God. This
demonstration is displayed in attitude, words, and deeds.
John the Baptist was humble. Mark 1:7 tells us, “And
this was his message: ‘After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs
of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.’” He
knew who he was in relation to Jesus. Remember the parable of the tax
collector? In Luke 18:9-14 he said, “God, have mercy on me, a
sinner.” Jesus called him humble.
How about you? Are you humble before your Lord,
don’t answer. Instead, think of who Jesus is, His holiness, His majesty,
His love, and His sacrifice. And remember that Jesus humbled Himself by
becoming one of us. “And being found in appearance as a man, he
humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!”
(Philippians 2:8) Then, ask yourself if you are humble or not.
Romans 12:3 says, ” For by the grace given me I
say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,
but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the
measure of faith God has given you.”
God does not want us to think too highly of
ourselves. Whenever I start getting prideful and begin thinking that I
know a lot about the Bible, or how big my website is, or whatever else I can
boast about, the Lord reminds me of how utterly arrogant I really am.
Does God really need me to carry out His will on this earth? Nope.
Does He need me to answer tough questions for people? Nope. Does He
need me to “get things done” for Him? Nope, not at all.
He doesn’t need me at all. That is why it is really amazing that He uses
me in spite of what I am inside. Now, THAT is Grace! Praise the
Lord!
What I need to do is listen to Him, look to the cross,
love God first, love my neighbor second, and not think more highly of myself
than I ought. We need to be humble for many reasons, but 1 Peter 5:5b has
a good one to focus on, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to
the humble.” I don’t want God to oppose me, and I suspect you
don’t want Him to oppose you either.
It is good to be humble before people, and to be thought
of as nice and kind, but not proud. And our humility before God is where
we need to start, not with people. Because only through Jesus Christ can
we have a proper relationship with Him. We need to be humble before God,
and dependent upon Him, seeking His will.
So, when we expose ourselves to the presence of God, we
find out who we really are, sinners saved by grace and kept by His
love. And, as Moses’ face shined because of being in the presence of God,
so too will your heart reflect the humility and love of Jesus as we spend time
with Him in prayer.
Seek Jesus, and you will find perfect Humility.
Can God change
your life?
God has made it
possible for you to know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own
life.
Discover how you
can find peace with God.
