The Encourager
“Learning Humility - by Jeff Curtis”
Learning Humility
By Jeff Curtis
Humility is a quiet, elusive virtue. Its opposite, arrogance, is seldom self-proclaimed. The apostle Paul’s opponents wouldn’t likely have identified themselves as being among those who “have become arrogant.” Most people recognize what they judge to be humility or arrogance in other people; they are generally less successful at seeing the traits in themselves. The arrogance of Paul’s critics at Corinth resulted in their refusing to listen and learn from an apostle of Christ. They were similar to young man who thinks he knows more about love than his grandfather who has been married to the same woman for sixty-five years. Humility is the willingness to learn from those who have travelled the road before us.
Arrogance is a frame of mind that places excessive value on the worth of our own preferences and judgments. It is self-confidence gone amok. Arrogance is an outgrowth of the same pride that caused the first man and woman to defy God and say, in effect, “I know what You want, but I will do it my own way.” Humility, by contrast, is the willingness to question ourself and value others. Those who Christ to be Lord who holds humility as a virtue. In the fifth century, Augustine offered this judgment on how to gain truth; “The first way…is humility; the second way is humility, and the third way is humility, and as often as you ask, I would say this.”
To be humble is to assess ourself realistically, and that is not a small task. It doesn’t require us to engage in constant self-deprecation like that displayed by Uriah Heep in David Copperfield, who considered himself “the umblest person going.” True humility is Jesus’ washing the feet of His disciples. It’s a child in the arms of the Lord. It’s Paul, “condemned to death,” “a spectacle to the world” (1Corinthians 4:9). It’s Jeremiah, being uncomfortable and confused about being called to be a prophet, but unwavering in his determination to preach. It’s Job, suffering with pain and questions, but trusting still trusting in God. Humility is serving, trusting, and giving without fanfare. Paul’s critics preferred their own glorification over submission to God. With that ungodly mindset, they had fostered disorder and confusion in the church.
Meditate on these things:
Psalm 138:7-8
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out
Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me.
8 The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands.
