Articles
Humility
There was a time when King Saul was useful to God’s purpose. At that time he was anointed king of Israel. That time was when Saul was little in his own eyes (1 Sam. 15:17). When Saul was little in his own eyes God was big. When Saul came to be big in his own eyes God was smaller, and God and His will became less important to him. Nebuchadnezzar had the same problem as Saul when he became big in his own eyes. After being made to live as a beast off the field and to eat grass as the oxen his sense of littleness and understanding returned. When he was humbled he could see God’s greatness (Dan. 4:32). Humility is having a proper estimate of one’s own importance or worthiness, marked by the absence of self-assertion or self-exaltation.
Pride is something we all wrestle with from time to time. Pride comes from a wrong attitude toward God, man, and ourselves. We need to recognize that “everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 16:5), and brings destruction (vs. 18). Again and again in scripture we are admonished not to get carried away with our own value. People who are always bragging on themselves are a bore. In fact, they may be doing nothing else. They get caught in what they are not doing. They fail to see what they ought to be doing. Do you remember the Pharisee as he prayed, “I thank God I am not…”? We need to ask how we look to God.
All pride is not bad. We all need a healthy dose of self-esteem and self-worth. In fact it is impossible to carry out the greatest commandment without a healthy view of self (Mt. 22:37-40). Husbands cannot be good husbands without a proper view of themselves (Eph. 5:28-29). It is a useful attitude. No one ever amounts to much in life without placing a proper value on self. When people say we are no good, not worth anything, we have no foundation for accomplishment, thus, never will amount to much. We do not expect to.
Humility is a companion to a good sense of self-worth. Humility puts you in perspective. It is the recognition that we’re worth too much to be lost. It is recognition that we are worth more than things, worth more than all the world, and worth more than all the accomplishments of the world. Humility puts you in perspective to others. When we arrive at a proper valuing of ourselves we are able to place a proper value on others. I am worth more than all that is in the world, and so are you. Humility lets me consider you first and myself second, not because we decide we are worthless but because we are considerate of the value of others. With sensual pride that won’t happen. People who are lifted up with pride have not figured out how low they are without God. They are haughty and do not see their own value.
I recall, the first time I ever flew in an airplane. I was so amazed at how different things looked from the perspective above. It is as though you could see the whole world. Well, pride is like living on the ground, we can only see what is immediately in front of us. Humility enables us to see ourselves as we really are. Pride gives a distorted image; humility gives a true image.
If we have the humility of Jesus we will have the proper esteem of God, others, and ourselves. We will no longer seek our own will but God’s. Ask yourself, if Jesus were as humble as I am, would He have given His life for me?
