Humility: An Uncommon Virtue
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Humility
by Jessica Powers
Humility is to be still
under the weathers of God's will.
It is to have no hurt surprise
when morning's ruddy promise dies,
when wind and drought destroy, or sweet
spring rains apostatize in sleet,
or when the mind and month remark
a superfluity of dark.
It is to have no troubled care
for human weathers anywhere.
And yet it is to take the good
with the warm hands of gratitude.
Humility is to have place
deep in the secret of God's face
where one can know, past all surmise,
that God's great will alone is wise,
where one is loved, where one can trust
a strength not circumscribed by dust.
It is to have a place to hide
when all is hurricane outside.
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Humility: The Journey Toward Holiness by Andrew Murray
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“Because Jesus had humbled Himself before God and God was ever before Him, He was able to be the servant of all.”
“The root of all virtue and grace….is that we know we have nothing but what we receive and we bow in deepest humility to wait upon God for it.”
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Matthew 18:1-6
Matthew 11:29
Matthew 20:28/Mark 10:45
John 13:3-5
I John 4:20
Philippians 2:5-8 ;
I Peter 5:5
Isaiah 53:3
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The Humble Life
by Wendy Gerdes
In our culture and perhaps every culture since The Fall, we are inundated with the desperate need to find significance through the approval and esteem of others. True humility can seem like an impossibility this side of eternity.
Is humility merely an action? Is it something we strive for? Is it something we practice and eventually, through practice, become truly humble? What about the acts we do in service to others, but deep inside we know they are done to elevate our status in another’s mind? What about those things we do for others in a desperate attempt to find significance for us? Humble acts done in an attempt to earn something either from God or man cease to be humble.
On the other side, a low view of oneself can be passed off as humility, when in reality it is just a low view of oneself. Self-abasement stands in direct contradiction to the story of mankind's relationship to God. As imagers of God, we are fearfully and wonderfully made and our low view of ourselves stands in direct opposition to what God says about each and every one of us. Self-abasement is not humility, but actually stands directly in the way of the path to true humility.
What is the very root of humility; the root that will cause true humility to flourish in our lives? Humility is not something we can create in our own hearts but is the result of something God does in us, however we can partner with Him. What is it and how do we open ourselves up to Him? How was Jesus, the Son of God, humble enough to be the confident servant of all even while walking the earth as fully human and fully divine? Was it the divinity that made it possible for Him and impossible for us? What if the answer is ‘no?’ Jesus came as both the Answer and the example to show us how to live our current lives on this earth. Studying His life gives us the answer we need!
In Matthew 18:1, the disciples were walking along with Jesus and asked “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” We may laugh at the forthrightness of their question, but I suspect this is a question many of us have. “How will my life count? I don’t want to just be a regular person.” A significant life is a need and desire we all have, but so often we try to answer that desire the wrong way and instead of humility, pride takes root.
The disciples were essentially asking, “How can I be the greatest?” This posture causes us to step on others to elevate ourselves. Jesus’ answer in Matthew 18:3-5 was not one encouraging them in their pursuit of a good life, a life that counts, or to do more things but entreating them to become like little children. What are children like? Children who have not lost their childlike innocence are free to be themselves. They do not try to one-up each other, prove themselves or use others for their needs. They simply are. A well-loved child is free from the need to find their worth from others, trusts easily and gives easily. They need others but do not use them. They fully trust the ones who care for them.
Pride is essentially doing life in a way that uses others for our own benefit and a refusal to rely on God for what we need. It’s a measuring of ourselves against others, looking for lack in others, elevating ourselves at the expense of others and a desperate attempt to hide the nakedness of soul we often feel instead of allowing the Cross to do its work through repentance. We may even do this through ‘good works.’ It’s an attempt to do life on our own and on our own terms. How do we become childlike again when so many of us have lost our childlikeness through the course of life?
In John 13:3-4 we find the root of Jesus humility hidden in the little word ‘so.’ “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; SO he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.”
The word ‘so’ shows us what enabled Jesus to walk in true humility throughout His life and allowed Him, as God’s Son, to wash the feet of mere humans. Belovedness. Jesus understood who He was because He spent much time with the Father in prayer and solitude. He came from God and was returning to God. He knew reality was that God had put all things under Him and He didn’t need to prove what He already knew to be true. He fully entrusted Himself to the Father. Because Jesus knew His belovedness to the Father, He didn’t need to use others to prove His own worth or status. He was free to love no matter what others thought of Him, believed about Him or how they treated Him. Humility is the absence of the need to prove oneself or ‘exalt oneself.’ It is entrusting oneself to God the Father and seeks to give to others for their benefit.
What about us? Pride shows us all of the places we are not rooted in Him and His deep love for us. When we need to be seen for our good behavior, approved of, receive credit, be admired, cannot be authentic, are ‘overly’ authentic to prove we are authentic, cannot be confronted, do ‘good’ hoping to be seen, love others with a top-down approach, try to appear spiritual, won’t offer ourselves to others out of fear of rejection, are rude to those who inconvenience us and hold others in contempt, we can be sure that pride is operating in our lives. The goal is not to then berate ourselves to try and become more humble, but ask Jesus to reveal and heal the deeper need in us we are trying to fill or the places we are trying to protect.
It is only when we know how deeply loved we are, we begin to feel safe enough to become truly humble. Humility is an act of trust that comes from knowing our belovedness to the Father and we begin to see a childlikeness and freedom to truly love growing in us. Our trust deepens, we lose the need to compare, can admit wrong, become more free to be who God created us to be, no longer grasp at others to secure our identity and give of ourselves to others more easily. We become people who can simply and safely be. We become people who love others for their benefit and not for ours. God has a way of gradually setting our foundations in a more sure place if we let Him. When we let our humble God see and wash our feet, dirty with the wear and tear of this life, He slowly but surely heals us. Humility is cultivated as we entrust ourselves more and more to the God who deeply and unconditionally loves us. Only then will be safe enough to become humble and childlike. Pride will no longer have to be our defense. The humble life is the beautiful life we are all looking for.