Humility, what's that?

Humility, what does that mean?

I once heard a brother quoted as saying, “At one time, I thought humility was the most important thing, I was wrong, humility is everything.”

Humility: another of those religious words that seem to be pretty difficult to pin down with a definite meaning.

There was another brother who came from Northern Europe to preach to churches in the United States. I wondered if that wasn’t kind of arrogant and surely not humble.

How can someone who travels around the world to speak to thousands of people and tell them what they need to hear be humble? If the easy meaning of humility is correct, this is an impossibility. A humble person would sit in a room alone and quietly be repentant and fearful of almost everything. 

Isn’t that something like the popular view of humility?

There are many examples of humility in the Bible, but Jesus is the perfect example of humility, and they called him a drunken party animal (Luke 7:34). Jesus told people what they needed to be doing and how they needed to change. How is that humble? Jesus condemned the religious leaders. Is that humility.

Jesus is our perfect example. Hebrews 12:2 says; “fixing our eyes on Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of faith…”. In everything he is my example. An example is something or someone you aspire to be like. How could Jesus be our perfect example of humility and speak the things he spoke.

In humility, Jesus said and did the things he saw and heard the father say and he did what he saw the father doing. Consider John 14:49

For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

It seems then that a humble person might do outrageous things if he is instructed to do so. A humble person might travel around the world and give instruction to strangers, if he believes that is what is required of him. A humble person might be the lead pastor of a mega church if that is what he believes he is suppose to be doing. A proud person might be doing the same thing.

The difference is hidden from our view. There is no way for me to tell if the confidence of the other person is arrogance or humble obedience. I must not judge, no matter how things appear to me, but earnestly seek grace to be obedient.

I believe that confident obedience may be a most humble thing to do.

It’s something to think about.