Christian Humility

“When the corn is nearly ripe it bows the head and stoops lower than when it was green. When the people of God are near ripe for heaven, they grow more humble and self-denying…Paul had one foot in heaven when he called himself the chiefest of sinners and least of Saints” -John Flavel

When talking about humility we can start off on the wrong foot but be right in a way. What I mean is we look at humility as acknowledging we are not good, we always have sin to fight with, we are completely helpless. These are correct descriptions but not a full description of Christian humility.

We talk about being less than others, as did Paul on a couple occasions that I will mention later, but we SHOULD also talk about ourselves less. Humility isn’t just about you or I but we can often make it that way and it could come across in an odd way. It is very true that we are helpless apart from God, our deeds apart from God are no good, and any good we do have is solely from God. But humility is more than that as Buck Parsons said very well “humility is thinking of yourself less. It’s getting over yourself and trying to put others first.”

Christ the humble servant is our model. In Mark 10:42-45 Jesus gives an example of humility by saying “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” We are to put others first and serve while at the same time also realizing that any good we have is from above, not from within.

Paul describes himself in 2 different ways due to his humility. While in prison Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus. The entire book of Ephesians is a perfect guide for humility, but in Eph 3:8 Paul writes of the state he considers himself to be in when compared to the saints “To me, though I am the least of all the saints”. Paul was given a great role in the church and had already endured much, but was extremely humble. He places himself lower than those who came before him all while serving a prison sentence for serving others by preaching the gospel.

The second description Paul gives of himself is found in 1 Timothy 1:15 where he writes “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” Paul, even though reaching a great number of people and doing many mighty works in the name of God, saw himself in light of Christ and counted himself as “chief” of sinners. He knew there was remnants of the old nature left in him and he knew it went against God, and in humility he saw himself worse than others. But remember what Paul was doing when he made these comments about himself. He was serving God’s people, writing letters, being imprisoned, enduring terrible things for the sake of Christ.

I constantly look at my life and the failures I face every day. All the ways I fail God, family, friends, strangers, ect. It troubles me to the point of saying I’m the worst person I know, I’m the chief of sinners. But many times my own attempts at humility falls short in my lack of putting others first. It’s pretty easy to put people first if it’s going to be easy on me as well. But that’s not really serving in a way that puts people before me. I won’t say I’m a prideful person, but I will say I’m selfesh after studying this out and writing this. I know who I am in Christ and that should humble me more than anything, because He gave His life for me. His perfect life of humility and sinlessness was counted as mine and I was given life eternal because of Him.

Humility is a gift of grace by God that all others graces are covered by. With a humble heart we grow in grace and grow in Christ. Just knowing your state apart from God isn’t enough though, we must put ourselves last and others before us. We must be servants, not to be seen as good before men, but to honor God and love His people.

God please forgive my inconsiderate ways. Grant me true, Godly humility so I can be of service to you and others. Help me to always see you for who you are so I will always know who I am and who was was. When my heart and mind is dull to the pains and needs of others, let me be reminded by your word written on my heart. Help me to grow in humility and destroy any pride that rears its head in my life. Amen.