The sinful heart of modern man has managed to turn humility on its head. Humility used to mean being certain about what God thinks and doubtful about what we think. Today, being certain is arrogance, and being doubtful is praised as the virtue of humility. Did God really say?
Humility is seeing the world the way God sees the world. Humility is seeing yourself as God sees you. Dark-hearted, yet lovely; weak, yet worthy; broken, yet beloved.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking less about yourself. It is this way because God’s desire is for your joy.
We know that there is no difference between thinking about yourself and being miserable. They both load on the same statistical axis.
Dr. Jordan Peterson.1
This is another way of saying that the rise of self-absorption, the rise of self-help, the constant invitation to reflect on our emotional state and our own degree of happiness, along with the multitude of Christian recovery groups and inner-healing camps sent to torment us, actually lead us away from the very contentment we seek.
Humility is not denigrating yourself but acknowledging God’s superior place over all creation. Humility is not making yourself as comfortable as possible but making those around you as comfortable as possible. And so it has been said: Heaven is not a hallway of mirrors in which we like what we see. Instead, heavenly bliss is more about self-forgetfulness and being happily enthralled by something larger than ourselves.
Humility is admitting your weaknesses, calling out to God for help, and depending completely on His strengthening grace. Humility is surrendering yourself to God the Father by acknowledging His word over ours, irrespective of what others might say about you – or do to you.
Humility is acknowledging the crown rights of Jesus Christ to work in you and through you according to His good pleasure.
God is brilliant, yet He speaks to us in simplicity. God is all-powerful, yet He deals tenderly with us. God is the ultimate example of humility. Jesus became flesh. He did not come to be served but to serve. He came, not to do His own will, but the will of the Father.
God is perfect, yet He is long-suffering in bringing us to perfection. God is all-knowing, yet He never grows impatient with our dullness and lack of understanding.
“A truly humble man is sensible of his natural distance from God,” writes Jonathan Edwards. “…of his dependence on Him; of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom; and that it is by God’s power that he is upheld and provided for, and that he needs God’s wisdom to lead and guide him, and His might to enable him to do what he ought to do for God.”
Humility is not weakness. It’s man standing on a beach, mesmerised by a giant wave, enthralled by a sunset, moved by the circumstances of the aged, the weak, and the downtrodden.
True humility is the result of forgetting about yourself because you have become enthralled at, surrendered to, and captivated by, something more glorious and more noble than you.
1 Dr. Jordan Peterson, 22nd May 2022. Mental Outlook.
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