Humility

What does a humble Christian look like?

Recently I enjoyed a series of devotionals by Selwyn Hughes on the subject of humility as a fruit of the Spirit. This virtue is much misunderstood. Hughes spent much time explaining what it was not before going on to what it was.

In the ancient world humility had a bad press. Christians had to more or less reinvent the whole concept, because humility was looked down on as a “servile, grovelling spirit”. Writers throughout the ages have given it overtones of hypocrisy. Witness Charles Dickens’ character Uriah Heep – “We are so very ’umble, Master Copperfield.”

Yet God’s people felt driven to work at changing this view of humility because they were so inspired and impressed by the character of the Lord Jesus, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ‬

‪Therefore God has highly exalted him ...” (Philippians 2:6-9 ESV).

Hughes quoted Philip Brooks, a great American preacher, as saying, 

“The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is. Stand at your highest, and then look at Christ, then go away and forever be humble.”

In John 13, the famous chapter where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, Jesus begins with the breathtaking awareness that God the Father has given everything into His hands. Then, in the full knowledge of this, he takes the towel and washes the disciples’ feet. He is our perfect example. He had greatness, but it was rooted in God.

We should not get above ourselves, but neither should we put ourselves down: that is false humility. The apostle Paul urges us in Romans 12 not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but to think soberly, Romans 12:3. That means we should have a balanced view of ourselves in God’s sight.

So what is humility? William Barclay calls it “a gentle, gracious and submissive spirit”. He offers us five Bible examples that, taken together, give us a composite picture.

James 1:21 counsels, “Humbly accept the message that God has planted in your hearts, and which can save your souls” (J. B. Phillips). Humility is a teachable spirit. We learn nothing if we approach the Bible in a proud and know-all way.

Then humility is needed if ever we must say to someone, “A word in your ear”. If you put yourself in the other person’s shoes, a word of warning or rebuke can come across as very threatening. Correction must be given in a spirit of humility if someone is caught in a sin (Galatians 6:1) or is in dispute with us over a vital matter (2 Timothy 2:25). It can be given in a way which discourages or in a way which sets a person on his or her feet with the determination to do better.

The same applies when non-Christians ask you why you believe and behave as you do. 1 Peter 3:15-16 advises, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you ... But do this with gentleness and respect.” Courtesy in word and deed is only wise. James 3:13 – “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”

Seeing that Christian humility may not be what you imagined, you may conclude that it is sadly not for you. Nature hasn’t endowed you with a mild-mannered personality or the gift of seeing yourself and others in perspective. Yet it is amazing what God can do in you if you let Him. Didn’t proud Paul eventually come to regard his carefully built up status with the leading Jews as so much muck, and call himself the chief of sinners?