My friend Christian has a license plate that reads "IMHMBL." Of course it's done tongue-in-cheek, but it makes me laugh every time that I see it because such a blatant declaration does not typically square with our idea of humility. Similarly, there's a verse in Numbers 12 that says "Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." Seeing as Moses himself was most likely the author of this verse, it is almost laughable that he would have penned such a thing. How can someone be humble and be aware of it?
What does humility look like to you? What kind of descriptor words come to mind? Weak? Groveling? Unable to accept a compliment?
Humility is not a virtue in our society. Pride, self-reliance, and individualism are deeply woven into the fabric of America. On a daily basis, we witness famous people behave in a way that could not in a million years be described as humble. A 7-foot tall basketball player celebrates a slam dunk like he just cured cancer, yet all he did was hop a little. A reality TV star goes out in public and demands royal treatment despite the fact that they have done nothing meaningful for society. We as a society are prolific in the art self-congratulation.
Like every other human, I struggle with pride. Pride manifests differently in different people, but the fundamental definition is that we are obsessed with ourselves. The self-aggrandizing rapper is obsessed with his "awesomeness." The self-loathing emo-rocker is obsessed with his "terribleness." At the end of the day, both are obsessed with self. My pride is closer to the self-aggrandizing type than the self-loathing type, but the bottom line is that I struggle with pride.
I have been aware of my particular type of pride since I was in high school. I have spent years trying to squash that sense of superiority or entitlement. This has caused me to sometimes intentionally downplay certain gifts or talents that God gave me. I think that I am just starting to learn what real humility looks like. The Bible gives us a amazing framework on how we are to understand ourselves.
We see that Biblical humility involves a bit of tension. On the one hand, we humans were uniquely created in the image of God (Gen. 1) and crowned with glory and honor (Psalm 8). However, we also see that we are deeply fallen and flawed (Gen. 3), extremely limited in our scope and understanding (Job 38), and that our best attempts at righteousness are like filthy rags in God's eyes (Is. 64). While we are certainly not supposed to think more highly of ourselves than we should, I believe that it is possible to devalue the gifts and abilities that God has given us to the point where we become bad stewards. The problem is not with the gift or the ability, the problem comes when we think that we deserve the credit for the gift or the ability. It is God alone who gives gifts and abilities (1 Cor. 12), therefore it is God alone who should receive the glory and honor.
Unlike my friend with the license plate, I have not arrived at humility. I am quite sure that I will spend the rest of my earthly existence being stretched and grown in this area. I can say, however, that God is currently teaching me how to live out the gifts and abilities that He gave me for His glory and for other peoples' good. Ultimately, I want to not think about myself in the process at all. I want to be so focused on God's glory that my own accomplishments aren't really worth mentioning. I want to be so filled with genuine love for other people that I use my gifts to serve them without concern for their ability to repay me or compliment me. I want to understand that I am but a speck of dirt in comparison to God, but that I am a speck of dirt whom God has declared valuable in His eyes.
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