Humility

I Peter 5:5-6 (NIV)

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”   Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.

On January 1, 2011, after Texas Christian University defeated Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, the TCU quarterback, Andy Dalton, was interviewed by the ESPN reporter, Erin Andrews.  When she asked what it felt like to be the Rose Bowl champion and to finish the season undefeated, Andy replied by quoting I Peter 5:6.  What a testimony from a football hero and what a great thought to consider as a new year begins.

Humility is the greatest characteristic of a true Christian.  The only two adjectives Jesus ever used to describe Himself (Matthew 11:29) were that He was “gentle and humble”.  Humility is so elusive to describe that anyone who even thinks that he/she is humble by that very thought proves that he/she is not.

What does it mean to “clothe yourselves with humility toward one another”?  To clothe means to cover completely so every aspect of your being---your words, attitude, demeanor, gestures (body language), everything---reflects a person who is humble towards other people.  And what is humble?  The Greek word for humble is “tapeinos”, literally meaning having a deep sense of one’s moral littleness or one’s lowliness of mind.  If the creator of this universe describes Himself as lowly, how can any created human being think of himself any higher?  Yet, we all do and that is why God opposes the proud because the proud think of themselves more highly than Jesus thought of Himself.  Paul wrote that “you are not to think more highly of yourself that you ought to think” (Romans 12:3).  Yet that is exactly the problem living in this world is that people have pride and think of themselves highly compared to others. 

Why are there so many church denominations and so many evangelical non-denominational churches?  My favorite Christian author, Philip Yancey, in his book “What Good is God” writes (p. 135) that disunity due to a lack of humility is a main reason for the establishment of new churches.  Evangelical Christians often display attitudes of pettiness, fractiousness, and selfishness, all because of a lack of humility.  The lack of humility was a main characteristic of the Pharisees in Jesus’ time and why He was so critical of their hypocrisy.   

It takes a very strong and secure person to have an attitude of humility in the true sense of the word and not belittle yourself or think that you are no good. The human psyche cannot handle this, cannot naturally be thinking of oneself as lowly without feeling inferior and all the problems that come with an inferiority complex.  However, a heart and mind controlled by the Spirit of Christ (“under God’s mighty hand”) and having the true character of Christ can be humble, can have that attitude of Christ and can sincerely “regard one another as more important than yourself, not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Phil 2:3-4).

“Humility comes before honor” (Prov 15:33 and 18:12).  I Peter 5:6 says this a different way in that if you are humble under the mighty hand of God, He will lift you up (exalt you) in due time.  I think that is what Andy Dalton was saying.  Because he and all his teammates put the team’s interests above individual interests, their sacrifices paid off with a great victory and that victory was God’s exalting them as a team in due time. 

Acts and the character of humility may not reap rewards immediately, perhaps not even in this life, but God promises to lift up the humble in due time.  To be lifted up by God Himself has to be the greatest feeling in the world.  Yet we must wait.  If you are humbling yourself and God is not exalting you, your time has not yet come.

Who among all those you know around you exemplifies humility?  Likely not many, are there?  Would others list you as an example of a humble person?  Why or why not?  Become more and more immersed and influenced by the Word of God and following the examples of godly and humble people to enable you to be more humble.  That is your calling as a Christian.

“Nothing sets a person so much out of reach of the devil as humility”—Jonathan Edwards