Embracing Humility

We all know people whom we consider prideful. Sometimes, pride can be so prevalent in a person that as soon as we meet them, we are painfully aware of their self-serving, arrogant, and condescending persona.

 Not all pridefulness is as blatant and obvious as the arrogant, narcissistic person you may know. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all wrestle with pride to some extent.

Scripture warns us that pride will lead to a person's downfall (Proverbs 16:18). Overconfidence in ourselves, our abilities, our intelligence, our talents and gifts, and our position or status will ultimately lead to self-reliance that proclaims we need nothing or no one else. We believe we have all we need in ourselves. I’ve heard it stated this way: “Many of us approach life as if everyone else in the world has a 'bit part' or a role in the production of our story, and we are the star.” Pride makes us believe that all things center on us.

Pride can be insidious, slowly growing, and becoming very harmful to our Christian walk. Pride is subtle and can manifest itself before we know of its presence. Small reactions of anger and frustration, quick thoughts of displeasure regarding another person, and criticisms of another person’s abilities, status, appearance, intelligence… (the list is endless) can indicate that pride may be seeping into our lives.

God has clearly stated that this type of attitude is self-destructive. Even worse, it inhibits Christians’ ability to represent Christ in this world effectively. We must understand how we exhibit pride and work, with the Lord's help, to remove it from our lives (Colossians 3:8-10).

Perhaps the best way to recognize pride in our lives is to understand its opposite attribute better: humility.

C.S. Lewis wrote, “True humility is not thinking less of yourself.; it is thinking of yourself less.”

Jesus’ life was the most excellent example of perfect humility. Philippians 2:3-8 explains His humility this way:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

We emulate Christ’s humility by doing as He did. 1 Peter 5:6-7 explains that we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. When we humbly trust ourselves in God’s sovereign care, we are to cast our cares upon Him, not exalting ourselves, but waiting on Him to exalt us in His timing.

In His humility, Christ became a servant to others (Mark 10:45). He taught the disciples that service is a primary task they are to practice (Mark 9:35).

We must acknowledge Christ as the center of our universe and emulate His life. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus responded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

We are to love God with every part of our being and love others MORE than we love ourselves. Because of pride, we already know how to love ourselves. Every day, we should set our love for ourselves aside and humbly make serving God and others the most important activity of our lives.