Understanding True Humility
Because the word humility is commonly used, it's easy to miss the deeper spiritual concept behind it.
This month on Weekend Magazine, we're exploring the concept of humility with author and Bible teacher Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I've admired Nancy for years because I believe she represents a true attitude of humility as God designed it. Nancy works hard to recognize and accept her own limitations and weaknesses, and she helps others do the same.
To help you better understand this concept of humility, I've taken the following excerpt from my book Beyond the Masquerade:
Prideaholics Anonymous?
Perhaps the first step in dealing with any addiction is simply recognizing it. This sounds like a relatively simple task, but it's not. The nature of any addiction, whether it's drugs, porn, alcoholism, or you name it, is to absolutely deny that it's a problem. A 90-pound anorexic looks in the mirror and sees fat while a workaholic puts in 70-hour weeks only because "We have a huge case that demands a lot of time. Trust me, I don't want to work this much." The alcoholic vehemently insists, "I can stop drinking anytime I want. I'm fully in control of my desire."
The same is true of pride. We go to any lengths to secure evidence that the "pride thing" is someone else's problem. But we'll never conquer the mask until we admit the addiction.
"Hi, my name is Juli, and I'm a prideaholic." Pretty cheesy, right? But is there anyone in your life whom you're willing to say this to, with whom you're willing to share how desperately you seek human praise? Can you admit how jealous you are of the person who's succeeding where you've failed? Are you willing to expose how angry you've become when someone doesn't give you the love or respect you feel you deserve?
Doesn't sound like such an easy step anymore. Jesus said that the road that leads to life is narrow, and very few follow it. This is a narrow and treacherous road, indeed! Freedom always costs something dear; spiritual freedom is no exception.
The Only Treatment that Will Work
The unquenchable demon of pride will keep us enslaved to our masks until the end of time. There simply is no hope, save one. There's a single answer to the problem of masks, but I guarantee you aren't going to like it. You've likely read about it in Scripture scores of times but skipped right past it because of your disdain for the Word. It's more difficult to take the medicine that can free you from your mask of pride than it is for a drug addict to enter treatment. Your aversion is justified, for what God calls us to is utterly inhuman to ever desire or willfully seek.
Humility.
What is humility?
Definition: 1) humble; low or inferior in station or quality; [synonyms: low, lowly, modest, small] 2) marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful; cause to be unpretentious; cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of. (Excerpted from WorldReference.com, 2006)
Humble and humility are words we regularly use in the English language. We define a humble person as someone who doesn't brag. A humble background means poverty. At least within the Christian environment, humility is an esteemed virtue that is often the result of difficult circumstances.
Because the word is commonly used, it's easy to miss the deeper spiritual concept behind what true humility is. Although I thought I understood humility, over the past several months I've begun to realize how profoundly ignorant I am of what it means to be truly humble.
Humility is not inferiority or self-hatred. Many people assume that a person with poor self-esteem is humble. They believe that the road to humility involves dwelling on personal inadequacies and failures. But true humility has nothing to do with feeling less valuable than anyone else. Philippians 2 highlights the fallacy of this belief. Jesus humbled Himself not because He was convinced of His inferiority but because He chose to lay aside His agenda for the will of His Father.
As I wrote before, inferiority and self-hatred are actually expressions of pride. Remember the Bible story of Cain and Abel from Genesis 4? Was Cain proud or humble after he presented his grain offering to the Lord? His inadequacy, jealousy, and anger were ignited by God's rejection of his offering. He might have thought something like this: Why does God reject me but bless my brother? I must not be good enough for God. Cain's thoughts and actions were rooted in his wounded pride.
True humility frees us from the bondage of inferiority and self-loathing because it frees us from self.
Humility isn't a circumstance. Although what happens in life can humble us, circumstances by themselves don't create true humility. Humility isn't what happens to us but what we are becoming. It isn't comprised by what surrounds us but by what emerges within us. A poor, uneducated person can be proud, while a respected, wealthy person may be humble. Humility is an attitude of the heart, affected by circumstances but not defined by them.
Excerpted from Beyond the Masquerade. Copyright © 2007 by Dr. Julianna Slattery. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.