Are you ready to be Humble?

Humility, now there’s something that feels lost in our hyper-filtered Instagram world. Humility itself is really the antithesis of our nature for all human beings because of our fallen condition. Truthfully, I have known a few people that I would say embody humility, and I once even thought that I was even being humble because I read a book on humility. I genuinely thought that I was going to accomplish this great feat, and very quickly I realized that idea was actually the opposite of humility. 

I figure for any of us to really understand humility, we have to start with what it is and then we have to see what it actually looks like. 

So to start, I found this definition which says: Humility is defined as the accurate, moderate assessment of one’s own abilities and worth, free from arrogance or self-deprecation. Okay, that’s a good textbook definition, but I like this quote from C.S. Lewis on Humility: “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less”. Now, as we see both of these sound pretty good as definitions, but we would be remiss if we didn’t look and see what the Bible says. Now, like most things, there are a lot of verses we could look at, but Romans chapter 12 is where I landed for this, so let’s take a look and see what Gods word says. 

Romans 12:3-5 says: For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.  Then, jumping down to verse 16, we see: Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

The first thing that we have to notice is that Paul, through the Holy Spirit, says through the grace given to him. We have to remember that the word grace means unmerited or unearned favor; so he is starting off with what I am telling you is because I am not in a position to brag, think soberly about yourself. This idea of being sober reminds me of a drunk person who thinks they are the strongest person in the world as long as they are drunk. God is saying that when you are full of yourself you are no different than this. Then we see that all of us have received a measure of faith, given to us by God, that brings us all together as one body. No believer is above another because all of us are part of the same body through Gods grace and we should look at each other with sober thinking of ourselves and each other. Humility reminds all of us that while we may not all have the same abilities, talents, thoughts, or even ideas, we can accomplish so much more together through Christ than we can apart. When Christ becomes our focus together, we point the watching world to Jesus, the only one who can save. 

Lastly, as far as what humility actually looks like, there is only one real example, Jesus. Hear the words of Christ from Matthew 11:29: Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 

So today, when the Holy Spirit shows us where we may not be sober-minded or where we may need to be humbled, submit to God and allow Him to change your heart. 

If you today don’t know Jesus, the first step to becoming humble is to surrender to Christ. Allow Him to forgive you and find the freedom you are seeking because it’s only through the forgiveness He humbly offers to you that you can ever be forgiven.