humble

Humility can be a huge struggle. It is something I pray for everyday because I know that pride is a killer. In some form or another, most of us have seen the damage that can be caused by a prideful heart. The problem with pride is that it starts in the heart of one person, and through their actions, affects the hearts of many, poisoning their church.

So, yes. Humility is big. But I don’t think that all of us “get” humility. Some of us strive to have the outward appearance of a humble person, but are neglecting to work on having the heart of a humble person.

If you frequent the RELEVANT Magazine site, you would have seen the article, 4 ‘Humble’ Things That Aren’t Humble. In this piece, Jayson D. Bradley (author) brings up some interesting points, calling into question some of the “Christianese” that we sometimes use to disguise our pride.

Here is a glimpse of it:

Virtues are a lot like garments; you can put them on without owning them. It’s tricky because we don’t just fool the people around us by playing dress up—we fool ourselves.

Humility is much easier to manufacture than it is to internalize, and as long as we’re more focused on humility’s appearance, we’ll never experience its transformation.

So What is Humility?

Scripture’s packed with references to humility (something God honors), and most of the time it’s used as an antonym for pride (something God despises).

The classic C. S. Lewis quote from Mere Christianity is a helpful place to start:

“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”

Humility’s simplicity is what makes it so difficult. It’s simply thinking about, promoting the interests of and celebrating others more than yourself.

Instead of focusing on others, we tend to promote, celebrate and focus on ourselves with a little self-depreciating twist to give the appearance that we really don’t take ourselves that seriously.

Like every other opinion based article, there are some things that I would push back on, but I do think that he brings up some interesting points and has started a really necessary discussion on faux-humility.

Spend some time today thinking about areas that you see pride appear. Pray for a humble heart and seek accountability.