2 Cents

For most of my life I thought humility was thinking less of yourself.  In other words it meant focusing my attention on how insignificant and unimportant I was and seeking a lowly posture and attitude.

However the more I read the Bible the more I find that humility is not primarily thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.

There are many places in the Bible that illustrate this point, but the main passage is Philippians 2:3-11.

For instance, Phil. 2:3 calls us to count others more significant than ourselves, even though technically we're all equal in God's eyes.

Our model for this is Jesus, who did the same thing in Phil. 2:6, convincing himself that he could not be equal with God, even though technically he was.

Meanwhile, Phil. 2:4, calls us to look outside of ourselves instead of constantly focusing our minds inwards on our own wants and desires as we're so addicted to doing.

This reminds me of how most people have conversations today.  Have you ever noticed in conversations how each person is constantly trying to talk about themselves, instead of focusing on the other person?

Have you ever noticed that when someone is telling a personal story in a group, the group is rarely interested in asking follow-up questions or knowing more about what happened to that person, but rather they're waiting their turn to speak so they can tell their own interesting story, almost one-upping the original story teller, because their main desire is to hold the floor and everyone else's attention themselves?

Brett McKay over at the Art of Manliness website astutely calls this "conversational narcissism," and we've all done it.

We also see in Phil. 2:7 that Jesus emptied himself.  In other words he gave up his glory and his right to be the exalted king of the universe - at least for a time.

For us this means we should give up our perceived rights.  Our right to spending time on our hobbies, or leisure, or naps, or being treated with respect, or only having to do just as much work as everyone else.

Humility means giving up your rights for others... seeing them as more important than you.

Take another cue from Jesus, who, when he had finally found some time for he and his disciples to get away from the crowds and actually eat, found another crowd waiting for him, and instead of sending them away, healed their sick, taught them more about God, and performed a great miracle.  (See Mark 6:30-34; Luke 9:10-11)

And finally we see humility in Phil. 2:8, where Jesus put God's desires for his life over and above his own by obediently dying on the cross.

Do you remember Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:42)?  Jesus didn't want to suffer the wrath of God on the cross.  But he did anyway.  Instead of focusing on his own desires he focused on God's.

So biblical humility is not primarily thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.

I'll leave you with this famous quote from C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity:

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble person he will be what most people call 'humble' nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody.  Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him.  If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily.  He will not be thinking about humility; he will not be thinking about himself at all.