Humility - Practical Application

We live in a time of extreme individualism. To a greater degree than at any other time in human history, North American society today values individual rights and responsibility over all other values. “To your own self be true.” The concept of “the greatest love” being love of self. Hyper concern about individual freedom and responsibility, and a growing belief that responsibility for others is a suspect category. These are all indicators of how emphasis on self has become more pronounced in contemporary society than ever before.

The spiritual discipline of humility is a call for Christians to stand against this trend in our society today. Christians are called to put less emphasis on self, to work to become less self-centered than the average person in our society. Christians should be the first to question our opinions instead of insisting on them. Christians should be the first to take responsibility for others in need and put aside concerns about enforcing personal responsibility on others in order to reduce expenditures or for other economic or political reasons. Christians should be the first to defer to others in public debate or disagreements—not to let go of their hold on truth, but to publicly allow for the possibility that their interpretation, their opinion might be wrong, even if they hold to it completely.

When Christians insist on strongly holding their own in an individualistic world, “standing up for truth,” they actually run the risk of bearing a false witness in the eyes of nonbelievers. The Barna Research Group has documented this problem in contemporary surveys. See the book unChristian. The lack of humility may cause Christians to think they are conveying a message for God when, in fact, they are presenting a false image of God’s character. Remember the Pharisees thought they were doing God’s holy will when they crucified the Messiah. When devout people ignore the discipline of humility, they set themselves up for the worst kind of spiritual failure.

The blog “Be Inspired Every Day” suggests the following steps in the practice of Christian humility:

1. Be grateful for your assets. In humility, we recognize the great qualities and assets that we have, but we don’t boast about them. Instead, we are grateful for them as gifts we have been given. Think about all the things you like about yourself and those things others like about you. Do you have intelligence, motivation, charm or some other great qualities? Express gratitude for those qualities and you will find humility.

2. Be grateful for your challenges and shortcomings. If you struggle with feeling that you are less motivated, less attractive or less intelligent than others, be grateful for the perspective and learning experience that apparent shortcoming offers you. Life is about growth and change. Every challenge we face builds our character and our assets. When we express gratitude for the challenges we face, those challenges lose their power over our perception of ourselves and become building blocks we can grow on.

3. Do not compare yourself with others. Human beings are the most diverse and variable creatures on the planet. Comparing one person to another is like comparing apples to green beans. It is this uniqueness that allows us to learn and grow from one another. You were created like no one else in the universe. You were created with a purpose that is shared with no one else. When you compare yourself with someone else, you could not possibly see what God sees in you.

4. Be teachable. The key to wisdom is to be teachable, to realize that you do not know everything, that many things you believe to be true may be false, and that you have much to learn from others.

5. Practice kindness anonymously. When you practice kindness, you transcend the high-anxiety world of selfishness and experiencing the fulfilling sense of oneness with others. When you practice kindness anonymously, you share the vision of your kindness only with God without the distractions of pride and self-importance which may result from sharing your kindness publicly.

6. Loosen your expectations. No matter how good you are at making plans or predicting outcomes, no matter how strong your belief is that something should be a certain way, life will often produce results you did not expect or did not want. When we hold tight to expectations, we become easily frustrated, disappointed, angry and humiliated. When we take ourselves and our expectations less seriously, we can more easily handle what life hands us and move out of God’s way as we are guided on our unique life journey.