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Quotes
“Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’” I Peter 5.5, ESV
“Nothing can so poison the sweet fellowship of a Christian community as pride, and nothing can so bless it with joy as humility. And the pride that poisons is most often of those who give the greatest show of being the most religious, while the humbleness with the most potential to bless is of those who give no thought of appearing religious at all. If only those appearing most religious but prideful had the humility of many who do not even enter the doors of a sanctuary. And if only we would consider the very persons Jesus saw most to exemplify the Kingdom of Heaven.”—Brian K. Wilcox
“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” St. Matthew 18.4, ESV
“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.” St. Matthew 11.29, ESV
“Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.”—Blaise Pascal
Comments
Once a church member came to a pastor. “Pastor,” she spoke, “why do you not support my teaching a Bible class, while you support Mary teaching a Bible class? Mary does not know near as much as I do about the Bible.” Replied the pastor, “You are right in one way, for Mary does not know nearly as much about the information in the Bible. But your pride and her humility shows that Mary knows more about the spirit of the Bible than you do. I would much rather one who has more the spirit and fewer the facts to teach the Bible than one who knows more of the facts of the Bible but without the spirit to match it.”
Imagine walking up to ten persons in your local community and asking, “What are the ten qualities of a successful person?” What would you hear? How many of the ten would mention humility, or humbleness?
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The Church gives a hint of its rightful honoring of the virtue of humility in what it calls the birth, life, death, and burial of Jesus Christ. This series of life-events is called the Humiliation of Christ. Humility is a cardinal virtue of a spirit-filled man or woman.
Andrew Murray, in Humility, writes of the paradox of the life of humility, as well as the need for the church to teach it. He writes, “And the Christian life has suffered loss, because believers have not been distinctly guided to see that nothing is more natural and beautiful and blessed than to be nothing, so that God may be all.” And, “It has not been made clear that it is not sin that humbles us most, but grace” (9).
Indeed, it is prideful to remain in the guilt-feelings associated with sin. Pride keeps one, even in contrition for sin, focused on oneself. Humility leads one to sense his or her nothingness apart from God, who is all in all. However, this sense of nothingness is not the nothingness of self-pity, guilt, or self-blame, all of which is a guised selfishness; rather, this sense of nothingness leads one to realize oneself as freely blessed and beautiful in Christ. The truly humble, not despairing, man or woman rises from contrition for sin and a sure sense of limitation to a nothingness in which she or he finds the fullness of God that leads to joy, praise, and love. For self-focus on sin and failure cannot enjoy or praise or love, rightly. But humbly accepting that one is what one is only in God and nothing in oneself, leads to this enjoyment of life, praise of God, and love for all creatures, great and small.
Spiritual Exercise
How has genuine humility been evident in your relationships with other persons in the last week? Has, at any point, pride entered into your relationship with other persons or with God in the last week? If so, be honest and confess it. How do you nurture a life of true humility through daily practices?
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