HOW TO BE HUMBLE
The first and greatest objective of converted proud rebels is the development of this
parent of gracesby Peter MastersFROM SWORD & TROWEL 1999
No 2
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another
in love (Ephesians 4.1-2).
PRIDE IS SURELY our greatest enemy within. It is what chiefly brought about the
fall of Satan. It is what mainly brought about the fall of the human race in the Garden of Eden. It robs
us of usefulness to God and spiritual happiness, and it sows discord among Christians. It is not
surprising that Paul should so strongly beseech believers to walk ‘with all lowliness and meekness’.
Lowliness (in the Greek) literally means humbleness of thinking. It describes an attitude of
mind in which we rein ourselves in, so that we think like servants. It is not so much a state
of mind as an act of mind.
Humility does not descend from the skies. It cannot be achieved without thought and
reflection. It is a thinking act in which we curb proud thoughts and responses.
Of course, it can only be produced by the help of the Holy Spirit, in answer to prayer. But there is a
mental action for us to take.
Lowliness or humility secures a number of immense blessings and benefits for the believer.
First, and rather obviously, it brings the help of the Holy Spirit for further holiness, service and
worship. This is a clear principle of Scripture. It is always the humble whom God blesses significantly.
Repeatedly we are told that the proud He knows afar off. He pushes them away, whether they are
believers or unbelievers.
Secondly, lowliness attracts the unconverted. It is true that a humble person is sometimes
despised for this virtue, but generally speaking he is attractive to those around him. Most people do
not like those who are proud. Therefore, humility strengthens witness.
Many aspects of our witness are hard for people to take, such as the idea that they are cut off
from God, or that they will be condemned as sinners. A humble spirit in a messenger greatly sweetens
that unwelcome message, securing a better hearing for the Gospel.
Thirdly, humility enables us to endure the knocks and trials of life. This is so apparent! If I
have a proud spirit then I am much more likely to be over-sensitive to offences and trials. I will be sure
to take my troubles badly. A humble spirit, on the other hand, is elastic and absorbent.
Fourthly, lowliness promotes fellowship among the Lord’s people. It makes each one more
approachable, and more interested in others. It enables us to encourage others and help others.
Fifthly, lowliness makes us careful and thorough, partly because we do not have an inflated
view of our capabilities, and partly because we see ourselves as debtors to Christ, who owe Him our
best efforts. Lowliness says, I am not a great person and I need to be careful and diligent about
everything I do. It makes us consistent and dependable.
There are some spectacular examples of lowliness in the Bible. You think of Moses,
described in Numbers as the meekest of all men. How he needed to be when you consider
all the murmurings and troubles he had to sustain! He had to be patient beyond imagination. He had to
accept and suffer endless insults, faithlessness, rebellion, apathy, derision and cowardice. Yet he had to
maintain his labours for the Lord despite everything. It is not surprising he should be identified as a
person of outstanding humility.
We may also think of Nehemiah - the chancellor or prime minister of an empire, and yet
ready to set out on a dangerous, long journey to Jerusalem, to take up a role without glory among a
despised people. He, too, stood up to constant hostility from Zion’s enemies and misconduct from
Zion’s people. Only humility enabled him to be faithful to his mission.
Daniel was another notable member of the company of humble instruments. What held
Daniel through so many perilous years? Surely it was his humility. Plunged down repeatedly, only this
saw him through. From Daniel we learn that humility does not mean that we divest ourselves of all
natural powers and gifts. It means that these are not the things we glory in or dwell upon. We exercise
them, but remain humble debtors before the Lord.
What could the apostle Paul have done without humility? He was frequently unsupported,
half starved, clad in threadbare clothing, suffering violent hostility, spurned, arrested and imprisoned.
As a man of great intellect, could he not have obtained for himself dignity and station? Could he not
have succeeded Gamaliel as a leading academic among his countrymen?
Or as a Christian, could Paul not easily have remained with the very largest Gentile
congregation, loved and esteemed, and surrounded by co-workers? What enabled him to choose a life
of disappointment and humiliation? It was because when God threw him to the ground at conversion,
He also humbled him, and Paul stayed that way. Humility is powerful.
Pride worries about me, my status, my feelings and my treatment. Pride is
critical and disdainful, always looking for people to criticise, as a way of boosting self-esteem.
Pride invariably places itself above reproof. It is hard to bring a message of correction to a
proud spirit, however gently it may be brought. Pride will resent both the reproof and the reprover. It
certainly will not listen, because pride is always right.
How do we promote in ourselves the lowliness and meekness of Ephesians
4.2? How can we develop the right attitude of mind? Here is a cluster of points
which should help.
First, I must remember I am unworthy - and mean it. I am unworthy of a relationship with
the living God, unworthy of my membership of the family of God’s people, and unworthy of Heaven.
Of course, the believer should not say, ‘I am absolutely nothing at all; I can do nothing,’
because this would not be true. We have received new life from God, and we may know a great deal,
and possess many attributes and abilities. We cannot tear all this down.
How are we to deal with the self-satisfaction and pride which quickly gathers if we think too
much about those things that God has enabled us to do for Him? Or how do we handle our gifts and
abilities? Perhaps someone has built the largest class in the children’s outreach work, or been
immensely successful in some other area of service. How is humility to be maintained?
The answer is simple. Balance the good against the bad. This anchors our feet to the ground. We should remember the embarrassingly foolish mistakes we have made, and reflect in shame on our unworthy motives. We should consider
all the personal inadequacies revealed by these things and then praise God for His power
and blessing.
Sometimes it is good to look back to past sins, though long forgiven. We remind ourselves
of what we were (even since conversion) and how God bore with us and forgave us. This is a very
moving thing to do.
We should then go a step further and remember that we are totally indebted to the Lord Who
bought us. We should say, ‘He has an absolute right to me, because I surrendered myself to Him. I am
entirely at His disposal; I am in His hands.’ As we remind ourselves of His kindness and our vows, a
lowly attitude is formed within us.
Then we should go further still and remember how indebted we are to other Christian
people. There are those who first spoke the Word to us, and those who have borne with us through our
spiritual growth. We should say, ‘All these have taught me and helped me. They have had patience
toward me, and forgiven me so many offences. I am indebted to all of them, and must serve others as I
have been served.’
Then we remind ourselves that we continue to have very many faults. If we think of these we
will wonder that people can tolerate us. This is how to maintain lowliness of mind.
A vital aid to humility is to keep in mind the fact that we have an old nature to
control, and that this always needs strong containing. And the first feature of this old nature (residual
sin within us) is pride. Every day we are called to mortify it. It rears its head constantly, so that we
cannot relax for a single day. Lowliness of mind depends upon us keeping our place. We must say,
‘Yes I have some gifts and abilities, but only some, and others of the Lord’s people have them also. I
am ultimately no different from anyone else.’
We must note those areas of Christian living in which others greatly excel us. Such thinking
keeps us in our place. We are called to be part of a team and we must never lose sight of that. We need
other people. The day we throw such thinking aside we become swallowed up by foolish pride, and
God will not bless us.
Humility is promoted and preserved by a servant-spirit. This is what is meant
by the term meekness (part of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5). In olden
times a servant was taught that his master was much more important than him. This is not to say that
the culture of those times was right, but it is often used in Scripture as a good picture of the spirit of a
Christian. Other people must be more important than we are, in our estimation. We are here to help
them and to serve them. We are called to esteem others better than ourselves. This is humility.
To keep hold of the servant-spirit, we should never stand on our dignity, quick to insist on
our rights. I do not say we never insist on our rights. Sometimes we are pressed so far that we are
entitled to certain consideration, and must say so. We have rights in society, and we may insist on
them. But Christian people are slow to assert their rights. They are not over-sensitive.
They are willing to be wronged to a certain extent. They are ready to absorb offence. To be over-
anxious to preserve all dignity is not a fruit of humility.
What if pride enters in because I am head of a home? I must remember that headship in the
home is not mine because of any intrinsic value in me. I am not better than anyone else in the family. It
is a delegated authority given by the Lord, and I must be worthy of it. I shall have to give
account for the way in which I have exercised it. This realisation helps to keep husbands humble.
What if pride swells up because I am the leader of some department of Christian service, or
a church officer? I must say, ‘I am given this privilege by the Lord, and I am His servant. I must
exercise this leadership properly and rightly in accordance with His will, because I shall one day give
account of my actions. I may not exercise it haughtily or pompously.’ The golden rule for leadership is
to look at the task rather than the office, and do the work rather than enjoy the station.
Expanding a point made earlier, we must never crave attention or notice. The old nature
wants attention, and ‘just a little flattery’. But what if praise comes unsought? Our response should be
to receive it graciously, but not to dwell on it. We should certainly never project ourselves, in our
imagination, into a situation where we are great or special. Such fantasising is a death-blow to
humility. To dream of great things leads to two results: soon we shall think we are worthy of them, and
then we shall pursue them.
Christian people may certainly seek advancement in life, such as promotion, but when they
are enriched or advantaged in any way, they should consider stewardship, not wealth. They should get
on with the job rather than preen themselves. If the mind says, ‘Look what I have achieved and
attained,’ they should push those thoughts away as if they were poison.
Another vital rule for the promotion and preservation of humility, is that we should never,
ever, under any circumstances, disdain other people and hold them in contempt. We have already
mentioned avoiding a critical spirit, but this goes further. We must certainly be discerning and often
ready to say that someone or something is wrong. But we should never easily disparage people. Some
believers harbour contemptuous thoughts towards others that destroy all their humility. Our speech
should not be driven by spur-of-the-moment passion, but it should be patient, kindly and edifying. We
should only censure or reprove when it is clearly necessary and fair, and even then, in a meek
spirit (Galatians 6.1).
We should say, ‘I must be approachable at any time. I must be open to receive people to talk
to me. I must not be aloof and suspicious, but open and courteous.’ All these are departments of
humility.
A great spur to humility is to say, ‘I will accept God’s providences.’ This is quite hard for us
all. Things go wrong and we instinctively want to blame someone and to feel sorry for ourselves. There
is the urge to mentally dredge through all our hardships and distresses. But if we try to accept God’s
providential oversight of our affairs, this will promote humility in ourselves.
We should try to feel privileged at being the subjects of His training. We should reflect on
the likelihood that God will use our reaction to trials as a witness. We should see the possibility that
God is weaning us from some undue earthly attachment.
It may well be someone’s fault that something has happened to us, and we have been
disadvantaged. But God has clearly allowed it to happen. He has permitted it. The believer who accepts
His providences, advances considerably in lowliness, to the glory of God.
Lowliness is immensely valuable to us and precious to God. It gives rise to so much
happiness and instrumentality. It must surely be our desire and prayer.
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