The Christian Flavor of Humility

We often speak of the need for humility as Christians, and we are exhorted by Paul throughout the New Testament to put on humility as children of God – see Ephesians 4.2, Philippians 2.3, and Colossians 3.12. But when we give up ourselves in humility – contrary to what the world teaches – we do not give up our power or our inheritance in Christ.

Therefore our humility should not be accompanied by fear or timidity or passivity (all of whom like to claim humility as a disguise), but should rather be a demonstration of power and security. We have Christ as our example, who we read about in Phillippians 2:

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As we empty our lives of the pursuit of our own glory, God’s glory will shine through and He will be magnified. Our path in humility is a confident path based on our righteousness in Christ and our adoption as God’s children, as Paul describes in Romans 8:

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba! Father! 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

17 and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ – provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

We are therefore victorious – not victims – in this life, as we live both now in the power of our Savior and in eager expectation of our eternal life together with Him. This is the Christian flavor of humility, that our humility is based not on our own lack of power but on the demonstration of God’s power, and for God’s glory!

Thanks for reading!

Mickey

Self Image and Our Quiet Time

1 Peter 5:5 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.

Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

I was thinking about humility this week and how it goes back to having an accurate self-image. We can fall of both sides of the self-image wagon:

• We of course can value ourselves too highly and lack the humility that we are called to as children of God.
• We can also be influenced by criticism and negative comments and forget that we are God’s child, made in His image.

Both of these tendencies either warp the meaning of humility or throw it out all together, both of which are distortions of our true value.

I was struck this week by the importance of our quiet time with God in keeping a healthy self-image. Our quiet times establish, before the world starts crowding in each day, three aspects of our existence:

Who God is – King and Lord over all

Who we are - a sinner

Who we are in God - a sinner saved by grace!

Conceit ignores who we are and a low self-image forgets who we are in God, but none of it matters at all if we forget who God is and what He has done.

A time alone with God each morning helps to set us straight before the day begins, and the challenge throughout the day is to not let others or ourselves to distort our understanding of ourselves throughout the day. This is how we can remain humble and yet fully confident, because we know that God always walks with us and that His Spirit lives in us!

What are your experiences fighting to remain humble and keep a right self-image?

What would you add to my comments based on your experiences?

Thanks for reading!

Mickey