What does it mean to be humble?
I saw a quote today, it went something like (I’m paraphrasing): Being humble is not about being as important as we can be, but trying to change the lives of others.
I have issues with this. First, no one ever at any time has ever described being humble as trying to be as important as you can be. That is the opposite of humility. Why that would factor into the description, is a mystery to me. Perhaps they were using it to explain by showing the opposite? If so, I still don’t get it. Trying to change the lives of others is not exactly the opposite of being important, nor is it humility.
Why do we think we can change others? Why do we think we should change others? Is this not arrogant in its motivation?
Perhaps humility is understanding that we can learn from others. Or maybe that others were also made in the image of God. Or even learning to love our enemies, simply because Jesus said to.
This quotation bothered me. Maybe if we stopped agitating for change and just served simply and honesty. Maybe if we acknowledge God’s supremacy, His holiness, His greatness, we might be struck by our own smallness and insignificance. Once we feel that, then we can grapple with the fact that He still loves us. That is the source of humility. That is the posture where we learn to be humble.
John 3: 16 – 18 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Roberta Writes 