If my people who are called by my name humble themselves,
and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
– II Chronicles 7:14

For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.
– Psalm 18:27

He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
– Psalm 25:9

The Lord lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground.
– Psalm 147:6

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
– Isaiah 57:15

But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
– Isaiah 66:2b

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says,
“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
– James 4:6

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God
so that at the proper time he may exalt you.
– I Peter 5:6

To grow in humility, we need to renew our minds with Biblical truth and train ourselves for godliness.

Nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. – Acts 17:25 (ESV)

We need to renew our minds by considering our dependence upon God. I am completely dependent upon him for my next breath, my health, and the length of my life. I am completely dependent upon him for success, provision, abilities, and blessings. I cannot exist or accomplish anything on my own.  I am completely dependent upon God. This is a truth that humbles us.

So let’s train ourselves in this truth by praying. As we cry out to God for help, we are acknowledging our dependence upon him. We are expressing our need of assistance from the One who is greater and higher than we are. This is a practice that can humble us.

Pray for God’s help and consider our dependence upon God – and so grow in humility.

Also in this Series

Growing in Humility

Consider Our Smallness Before God

Back in July, I wrote a post on growing in humility. In it, I looked at two general principles for growing in humility: renewing our minds with Biblical truth and training ourselves for godliness. My plan was to then begin a weekly look at some specific applications of those two principles. Needless to say, between a busy July and my blogging break in August, I never got back to it. So now finally, here we go:

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
– Psalm 8:1, 3-4 (ESV)

To grow in humility, we need to consider our smallness before God. He is big, majestic, full of glory. We are small even in comparison to the heavens, let alone God. He is the Creator; we are the creatures. There are billions of people scattered around the world – and God made every one. He is big. We are small. This is a truth that humbles us.

So let’s train ourselves in this truth by going outside. Look at the stars. Watch a sunset. Sit on the beach and watch the crashing waves. Observe creation and wonder at our Creator. Many of us spend so much time indoors where everything is made by people, and arranged around us. No wonder we struggle with pride. But go outside where everything is made and arranged by God for his glory, and we’ll see how small we really are. This is a practice that can humble us.

Go outside and consider our smallness before God – and so grow in humility.

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. – 1 Peter 5:5-6 (ESV)

Peter tells us to clothe ourselves with humility. We are to humble ourselves toward others and before God. How do we do that? Today, I want to look at two general principles for growing in humility. Then once a week for the next several weeks, we will look at a specific application of those principles. Here are the two principles:

First, we need to renew our minds with Biblical truth (Romans 12:2). Our cultural is full of proud lies seeking to conform us into its way: “Life is all about me.” “You need to get yours.” “It doesn’t matter what God thinks; do your own thing.” “Buy this product so you can impress others with your superiority.” And so it goes. In midst of all this pride, we need to renew our minds in Biblical truth. We need to soak in the Bible that we might develop minds of humility.

Second, we need to train ourselves for godliness (I Timothy 4:7). There are certain habits or disciplines that we can practice to train ourselves in humility. We might call them habits of humility that not only flow out of humility, but also reinforce humility in our lives.

Two principles to help us grow in humility. Next week we will begin looking at some specific applications of those principles. In the meantime, perhaps you can think of your own applications of these principles for your own life.

In case you haven’t noticed, the focus around here lately has been humility.  I read two books on humility and spent three weeks recently preaching on the topic, so the idea is in my head (and I hope working into my life).  It is an area I want to grow in.  Next week we will be taking a break to refocus on the Christ’s death and resurrection.  But before we do, I want to point you to a post by Paul Tautges who shares seven marks of humility from Philippians 2:1-11.  Actually this passage might be a good way to start thinking about Christ’s death and resurrection too.  His seven marks are:

1. Humility begins in the mind.
2. Humility is a conscious choice of the will.
3. Humility is an attitude of the heart.
4. Humility lowers oneself, while at the same time entrusts the possibility of any future exaltation to God.
5. Humility’s earthly end is death.
6. Humility accepts the likelihood of earthly shame.
7. Humility’s heavenly end is exaltation.

The first three remind us that humility is directly related to what we believe, desire, and do.  Head, heart, and hand.  The final four bring us back to the idea of humbling ourselves and leaving it to God to exalt us. 

For a further description of each point, I encourage you to check out his post.

Many think of humility as weakness.  The humble are door mats that people walk all over. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.  It takes great strength to be humble. 

Consider Jesus.  It took great strength for Jesus to humbly submit to the Father’s plan for him to die on a cross.  It took great strength for Jesus to humbly put our interests above his own to die for our sins.  Proud self-indulgence would have run.  Arrogant self-centeredness would have never come to Jerusalem, or to earth for that matter. 

And so it is for us.  It will take great strength to humbly submit to God’s plan for our lives.  It will take great strength to humbly submit to God’s commands.  It will take great strength to humbly serve the needs of others.  Indeed we need the Spirit’s power at work in us, as he was at work in Jesus, to truly be humble.

The humble are strong.

In the last post we looked at humility with others:

• We are all sinners, so I will not act morally superior to others.
• We are all valuable as God’s image-bearers, so I will not act as if I am more valuable than others.
• We are not gods but creatures, so I will not act as if the world revolves around me.

Then comes Jesus:

• He is not a sinner.  He is holy.  He is morally superior to others, but he doesn’t act like it.  Instead he eats with and identifies with sinners.  He identifies with us.
• He is God.  As such, he is more valuable than others, but again he doesn’t act like it.  He welcomes children, men, women, crowds, and disciples.  He welcomes us.
• He is God, and so the world does revolve around him.  But again, he doesn’t act like it.  Instead he comes as a servant (Luke 22:24-30).  The Creator serves his creation.  He serves us.

If a holy greater God can humbly identify with, welcome, and serve sinful inferior creatures like us, how much more should we humbly identify with, welcome, and serve one another?

Humility with others begins with a right recognition of who God is, who I am , and who others are.  Here is a quick summary:

Who God Is                       Who I Am                                         Who Others Are
God/Creator                     Not God / A Creature                     Not God / A Creature
Greater                              Have value                                       Have value
Holy                                    Sinner                                               Sinner

From this right recognition should flow the right response:

I will not act as if I am morally superior to others (Luke 18:9-14).  The Pharisee thought he was pretty good.  As Christians we can think we are pretty good.  But no matter how good I am, I am still a sinner.  In God’s eyes, we are all sinners deserving judgment.  I cannot act as if I am morally superior to others.

I will not act as if I am more valuable than others (Luke 18:15-17).  The disciples didn’t think Jesus had time for children, but Jesus welcomed them.  We all have the same value as image-bearers of God.  I cannot think I am more valuable because of my age, gender, race, nationality, personal convictions, or anything else you want to come up with.  We all have value in God’s eyes.  I cannot act as if I am more valuable than others.

I will not act as if if the world (including others) revolves around me (Luke 20:45-47).  Again the Pharisees acted as if the world revolved around them: look at me, honor me, be impressed with me.  They acted like they were gods.  Not that they would ever say such a thing, but that is how they acted.  Too often so can we: selfish ambition, greedy for honor and praise, showing off, caught up with self, and the list goes on.  But I am not God; I am only a creature.  The world revolves around God, not me.  I cannot act as though the world revolved around me.

May God help us to recognize our place in the universe and act accordingly.