Humility is not exactly the flavour of the month. In fact humility is a notoriously difficult virtue to cultivate at the best of times. Our problem as human beings is pride – one of the seven deadly sins – and that deadly sin of pride so often gives humility the boot.
The lack of humility often finds its most potent expression when it comes to our relationship with God. That struck me on one occasion in a particularly vivid way. An older lady, about my age, had just moved into town and we were soon on a ‘good friends’ basis with her and her husband. Being a church-goer she had decided to check out a church that conformed to her own religious background. However, later in talking to us, she was scathing in her assessment of that experience. I’ll go even further and say that she was quite angry. The preacher had dared to tell the congregation that they were all sinners in need of Jesus and His forgiving mercy and grace. Well… she didn’t actually mention the last bit. I’ve taken the liberty to add that because I knew the preacher well and he would never call his congregation sinners without stating that through faith in Jesus Christ they are forgiven sinners. This lady merely mentioned that he had dared to label everyone – including her – a sinner… shock, horror! It made me wonder what sort of church she had previously attended; possibly a church that didn’t much like to talk about sin. However this lady wasn’t done yet. She told me in no uncertain terms that the Bible nowhere supports the idea that all people can be labelled as sinners. That was actually a second manifestation of her lack of humility. She knew she was talking to a man who had spent most of his life studying the Scriptures as a preacher and pastor but not once did she pause to ask me for my opinion on what the Bible might actually have to say about this matter. If she had, I could have pointed her to Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Or 1John 1:7, “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” But she didn’t ask, she was too intent on airing her own indignation.
Of course a lack of humility can manifest itself in many different ways but it particularly comes out when we start thinking about our relationship with God. It takes a considerable amount of humility to consider the fact that we might actually fall short of God’s expectations of us. And isn’t that one of the key problems in our day and age? We’ve been taught for far too long that we are all basically good. The problem is that God doesn’t do good. God only does perfect. In the Old Testament part of the Bible we are called to be holy. And if we were to ask, “How holy?” then God’s answer is, “Be holy as I the Lord your God am holy.” In the Sermon On The Mount Jesus spoke about the need for us to be perfect. And if we were to ask, “How perfect?” the answer would be, “As perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” It is a lack of humility that reserves the word sinner for criminals and con-artists, terrorists and rapists. Humility is recognising not only our vulnerability as human beings but also that our moral shortcomings make us liable to God’s judgment. Perhaps the first test for humility should be whether we humbly recognise our need for a Saviour.
There are some words that the Apostle Peter wrote about pride and humility that are just so pertinent for our day and age. Peter spoke about that in the context of human relationships because he knew that humility is needed for good relationships. Peter said, “All of you, cloth yourself with humility towards one another because ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’. Humble yourselves therefore, under God’s mighty hand that He may lift you up in due time.”
John Westendorp