Humility

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is in Micah 6: 6-8.

6With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

I have had this verse on my mind lately. Humility is not something we talk about very much. Our society teaches us that we are to be confident; we are masters of our own destiny! We are taught that if we work hard and believe in ourselves we can achieve anything; however, if we doubt ourselves we will surely fail. Humility is not a virtue; it is actually viewed as a weakness.

As Christians, how do we approach humility in a society that values individualism and looks upon humility as weakness? Can we be confident, successful and humble? Of course we can.

Humility in Christian terms is having a proper understanding of who we are in relation to God. On my own, I am not worthy of God’s love or the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for my sins. I cannot do anything that would make me worthy. I cannot be good enough. I cannot be kind enough. I cannot do enough acts of charity or help enough people so that I would become worthy of Christ dying for me. It is only God’s grace and love for His creation that allows me to have a relationship with Him. Keeping that perspective keeps us from becoming too enamored with our piety or our own success. It also prevents us from being judgmental of others. Uh-oh! Here we go! Really, how can I sit in judgment of others if I am not the one responsible for the grace that I experience? I have a hard enough time trying to keeping myself straight to worry about others, but it is an easy trap to fall into. We like to judge how we are doing by comparing ourselves to others around us in every aspect of our life. The key to humility is to realize that there is only one comparison that matters: in my effort to be Christ-like, I come up short every time. As long as I remember that, I don’t feel too comfortable casting stones at others.

Does humility make me a less effective teacher, businessperson, leader, lawyer or banker? Is my confidence so shaken that I am unable to be successful in anything? I don’t think so; in fact I think humility can make one more effective. If I believe that God is my creator, then I also believe that the abilities and talents that I have are gifts from God. How I use them is part of my obedience and service to God (see the parable of the talents in Matthew 25). If I have talents and abilities, then God gave them to me for a reason and I have a responsibility to use them as He is leading me. Colossians 3:23 states that “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men…” Take that which God has given you and make the most of it. Not that we should boast or think highly of ourselves, but that He might be glorified. Humility is not easy. I need to pray and work at my relationship with God and others in order to keep things in the proper perspective.

“Lord God, help me to walk in humility. I understand that nothing I have ever done or will ever do will make me worthy of your love, your grace, or the many blessings you have placed in my life. Help me to live a life that would be pleasing to you. Help me to not be boastful, judgmental or self-absorbed. Help me to see others through the eyes of Christ; to see the needs, the pain, and the potential of those around me. Forgive me when I fail, and continue to work in my life. In the name of Christ my savior I pray. Amen!”