Redemptorist Preacher

What Does it Mean to be Humble?

I think we sometimes have wrong notion about humility, or being humble. We think it might mean denying the gifts that we have in front of others so as not to appear boastful. We might think that we have always to be self-effacing, groveling at the feet of our superiors. But that is not the true nature of humility.

Because God loves us so much, we have value without limit. In the classic Old Testament expression, we were made in the image of God. This exaltation of the human status reaches its climax in the New Testament, which declares that the character of God Himself can be fully known only in a particular human life, that is, in the life of Jesus. Within the Biblical frame of reference, humility is not primarily an attitude towards oneself at all, but towards God and towards other persons.

Briefly, it means the willingness to let God be God; that is, to acknowledge one’s dependence upon God’s creative power; to rejoice in gratitude for God’s blessings; to adopt the ways of the Lord as one’s own; to accept with contrition the judgment of God when one falls short; to trust in God’s power and willingness to forgive and to redeem. From the Biblical point of view, to devalue our own life is not humble at all, but arrogant. It presumes to contradict God’s declaration that His creation is ‘very good’.

Humility is also not just about our relationship with God but it plays an important role in our relationships with other persons. Humility is again not primarily an attitude towards oneself, but towards others. Biblical humility entails the recognition of others as invited guests at the Lords own banquet table. The result is a regard for the will, the purposes and the feelings of others. To be open to others as God’s heart is open to us.

That is primarily what humility is about, it is about being open. Being open to the infinite goodness of God. Being open to the unique gifts in each one of our brothers and sisters around us. There is an old joke that says just when you think you have found humility you lose it. But I don’t think that is the case at all. We should strive for the type of humility that helps us to be open. To acknowledge that as good as we are we always have room in our hearts for God and for others.