You don’t hear much about humility in our modern culture. When was the last time you heard somebody recommend that we should be more humble?
Name one media personality, one leader, one captain of industry who is truly, comprehensively humble.
And yet the Bible repeatedly mentions being humble as a key trait of the mature Christian.
Humility is a growth goal that I have struggled with for my entire life.
So what is humility?
First of all, humility has very little to do with your strengths and weaknesses. We all have strengthens. We all have weaknesses. We all have a pretty good idea of what they are. Humility is not about saying that you are not smart when you are. It is not about saying that you are weak when you are strong.
At its core, humility is about recognizing your place in the hierarchy of the universe.
As a group, secular humanists see mankind as the top of the pyramid. For the secular humanist, there is no being above man. The secular humanists, as a whole, answer to no one. They are the final arbiter of right and wrong. They are the final arbiter of truth. The secular humanist can be wrong; but, only by violating the rules and principles that they themselves have created.
The creationist sees man as a being on a plane that is not the top plane. The creationist concedes that there is a cosmic plane that is completely superior to our world in every way. The creationist allows that there is a being who is completely superior to us in every way. This being, the creator, is the only arbiter of right and wrong……..the only arbiter of truth. A creationist, if he or she is being honest………and an great many Christians are not, must use the creator’s definition of right, wrong and truth. So a creationist, must seek out, study, and follow the moral code of the creator. This is very hard.
It is not hard because we can’t find the code……..it is there in plain sight…… Love the creator…… Love your neighbor. It is hard because we resist the idea of not being in charge. We hate the idea that someone else gets to make the rules. We hate the idea that someone else tells us what we can and cannot do.
And there is the great irony.
In our hearts, Christians really want to be secular humanists. In fact, many…….perhaps most…….Christians are functional secular humanists.
The great challenge for Christians is to be humble. Humble enough to submit to the leadership of our creator.
The bad news is that we just are not very good at humility.
The good news is that humility is connected to one of God’s great promises……..a promise that we desperately need in America today:
“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
God, NIV