Moody Thinking

This post is from several months ago at my old blog. However, a recent conversation with a friend got me thinking about humility. I have made a few grammatical changes, but the points are still the same.

If you have to prove how humble you are, you are not really humble. What is the true nature of humility? I have been thinking about this topic lately as I have had some interactions with people who work really hard at being humble. Humility is one of those character traits that naturally shines, yet I believe that there are many that feel uncomfortable with people not thinking we are humble. Humility is an issue of the heart and actions flow from that heart. In other words, you cannot show humility if you are not truly humble.

Case in point: If God has so blessed you to be financially wealthy, then appreciate the gifts and serve God with the money. This may mean giving all of it to the poor or finding other ways of blessing others with a portion of your income. I know of a family that owns a beach house in Florida. They are wonderful followers of Christ and use their home for ministry to others. However, I also know a person who is wealthy, but he works so hard to hide that fact. He bought a new car for his 16 year old son, but felt he had to tell me how big a deal he got on it, in a 10 minute diatribe. I really think that he believes that to be wealthy and buy things is not humble, so he has to make excuses for the money he spends. If a person is working so hard at humility that he feels he has to prove it, then it is an issue of pride.

We can be pridefully “humble” and we fall into that temptation because we are trying to prove our humilty to other people. We get worked into a frenzy so that we may gain the approval of others, so that they may talk about our great character. Is this not the definition of false humility? What is the source of this false humility? “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Matthew 6:1.

We are so much like Pharisees when we work so hard for those around us to see us as humble. Where does true humility come from? Look at the story Jesus told of the tax collector and the Pharisee in Luke 18. The man who walks away pleasing God is the one who rightly confessed his sin to God. This man brought nothing to God but a broken heart and he left blessed. Was he worried about others opinions? Was he like the Pharisees that prayed on the street corners and made themselves look sick while they were fasting so that they could gain the approval of men? No. So who are we trying to impress?

As long as our hearts are right before God, he will lead us to be content in every situation and humility will flow out of us rather than us trying to manufacturing it. You can be a humble wealthy person and you can be a humble poor person. The issue is the heart.

 So we should be who God has called us to be, humble ourselves before him, and quit worrying so much about what others think. When we measure ourselves against God, we have no choice but to be humble because our righteousness is as filthy rags before him (Isaiah 64:6). Against his holy standard, we can do nothing but humbly ask for mercy, which God freely gives through faith in Jesus. This attitude is true humility and it flows into our lives.

As so many other things in our lives, if we address the heart, the outer man will follow suit (Luke 6:45).