Phil. 2:3-4(NLT) Don’t be selfish; don’t try to
impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t
look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
One
time, one of my college friends remarked out of the blue, “Hey, I think I am
the most humble person among all of you.”
We all burst out laughing and this
became a running joke for the rest of the year. It pleased us to no end to see
him squirm each time someone said (in a singsong voice), “I am so humble, please give me some
of that bread” or publicly to a girl, “I am so humble, please accompany me to
the dining hall”. However it set me thinking about what it means NOT to be humble. So here is a sample.
· A
gentle or quiet personality does not equate to humility. I have met some very
quiet, gentle-looking individuals who are also the most stubborn and big-headed
men this side of town. I hear they are called the quietly proud.
· To be
shy is not a sign of humility. On the contrary it is a sign of deep-seated
pride. Shyness is really over-blown self-consciousness. A self-conscious person
reacts disproportionately to what he/she perceives as other people’s view of
him/her. It simply means that if you are inordinately shy, you are one who
thinks a lot about yourself. Self-preoccupation is just another name for self-pride.
· A loud
personality does not equate to pride. In Numbers
12:3 Moses, the choleric leader of the wandering Israelites is endorsed by God as the most humble man on the face of the earth. Figure that!
· To admit
that you are humble is in itself a sign of pride. Only Jesus could make this
claim conscience-free.
· An
attitude of submission is not necessarily an act of humility. If you doubt just
ask any married woman about Kenyan house-helps.
· To be
preoccupied with self-image is a sign of pride
· Always
agreeing to do what other people want is not a sign of humility. It is a
camouflaged craving for acceptance. This is sure path to pride for what happens
when you eventually gain acceptance. Yep, you guessed right-you become proud
that you now belong!
· To
frown upon pleasure (asceticism) is not necessarily a sign of humility. Neither
is living your life with an ever-increasing legalistic dos and don’ts. It could
very well be an indication that you are steeped deep in false humility; the
kind that Paul describes when he says; Phil.
2:20-23 Since you died with
Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you
still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do
not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which
have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on
merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed
have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false
humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in
restraining sensual indulgence.
So the test is this; if
any of your rules does not help you in restraining your sinful impulses then
discard it. Of course the converse is true.
· An
excessively self-deprecating attitude or excessive modesty is not a sign of
humility. On this last point I recall another friend who (quite seriously)
remarked to me, “Henry, on my first day in college, I looked at all the
girls and concluded that in the whole campus, there was only one godly and
humble girl”. Quite puzzled I asked, “Why do you say that?” He went on rather impatiently,
“You see friend, I found Sembi (not her real name) dutifully sweeping the area
outside her room and she was the only girl who was not wearing a trouser. She
had tied around her waist a beautiful ‘shuka’ ”.
Afraid to ask any
more questions I let the matter rest. However I kept wondering whether it
was the ‘shuka’ or the sweeping that had made this girl humble.
All I can say now is
that the modest ‘shuka’ is certainly not an indication of humility. I lived in
Mombasa and endured very proud Swahili women whose most distinctive
characteristic was pride, their colourful ‘shukas’ notwithstanding.
So then, what is true
humility? From the bible we learn that;
1.
It is considering other people better than
yourself. This is in Philippians 2 as quoted above. Many of the so-called MoGs
(Men of God) fail spectacularly on this point. Same to a good number of
Christians in other positions of authority. Even when you are highly exalted,
there is, if you carefully check, something that those below you are better at
than you. Identify it and learn to appreciate other people’s gifts, talents and
abilities.
2.
It is having a proper and balanced view of
yourself-not too low a self-esteem and not too high a view of oneself. Romans
12:3(NLT) says; Don’t think you are
better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves,
measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
3.
It is avoiding the kind of false humility so
prevalent with some of the so-called prophets/apostles. Paul speaks strongly
against it. He says; Phil. 2:18-19 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility
and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great
detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their
unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head,
from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and
sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Their main claim to fame
is that they have supernatural revelations and interactions hidden from the
common man. For a majority, a careful check of scripture against their works and
private lives quickly reveals the shallowness of their faith. DO NOT
be found among them.
Jesus life is the ultimate example of true humility.
The bible says that
though he was in every measure God (the same way I can say you are in every
measure human), he did not go around bragging that he was God. Instead he took
on the ignominious task of donning human nature. And it was indeed a demeaning
task for God to stoop to the level of humans-His creation.
The bible says that he
went even further. He humbled himself and left his kingly place in heaven to
become a servant among common men. If you can picture God in His heavenly
throne, worshipped and adored by men and angels, dwelling in unapproachable light,
so holy that only a certain type of angelic beings can approach His manifest presence,
then you will agree that the bible is right to record that he became ‘nothing’.
Worse still he submitted himself to the most shameful way to die at that
time-death on the cross! Phil.2:6-11
Why did he do this? Well,
because he loved you (see John 3:16-17) and
his primary desire is that he could redeem as many as possible from the raging
fires of hell (see John 3:18).
If we model
after Jesus and genuinely love people, not with words but in action (1 John 3:16-18) then true humility will naturally
flow from us.
Both God and man will be
pleased.
http://www.swordofthespirit.net/bulwark/truehumilitychart.htm
https://libertyforcaptives.com/2013/08/06/whelp-there-it-is-15-signs-of-false-humility/
baktiwomen.org
thinkingblueline.com
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