Dear Elim Grace,

Let’s be honest: Are we humble? How would we know it?

C.S. Lewis said “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” In other words, I am not the center of my thoughts, desires, actions. My life is not centered around me. Rather, to be humble and to walk in humility is to be other-centered and other-focused. This begins and ends with Christ. My heart has been reborn and, therefore, re-centered.

But if humility is thinking of yourself less, how would one know they are humble? In short, they wouldn’t. To speak of MY humility, to be aware of MY humility, is to show my lack of humility. Self-forgetfulness is the fruit of true humility. 

Jonathan Edwards said, “We must view humility as one of the most essential things that characterizes true Christianity.” This is true because humility is that essential quality or attitude that characterized Jesus Christ. So Paul urged every church and disciple to “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8)

As sinners saved both from sin and death and into the life and righteousness of Christ, “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). He who walked in humility and came not to be served but to serve, now lives in us. He who came not to do His own will but the will of the Father, now lives in us. He who came not to seek His own glory but the glory of God, now lives in us. 

Christ lives in us now by the Spirit, and it is by the Spirit that the fruit of the Spirit (the affections and character of Christ) is now alive in us. Paul doesn’t list “humility” as a fruit of the Spirit, but certainly the “soil” in which the work of the Spirit takes root and is cultivated is humility: the attitude of being led by the Spirit, keeping pace with the Spirit, sowing to the Spirit, living at the bidding of the Spirit. In the life of the Spirit there is only one center and reference point for our thoughts, desires, and actions: Jesus Christ.

Humility is the work of a lifetime, of Christ being formed in me. Little by little Christ becomes all in all. Our life becomes less and less about us and more and more about Jesus. “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30) — a loving surrender to the King of our hearts, not a begrudging handing over of victory. 

Still, the truly humble will never be as humble as they long to be, in that they will be aware of the attitudes and acts of pride and selfishness that surface from their heart. But then they will turn in repentance to behold Jesus, full of love, mercy, grace, and truth. They become what they behold. They become what they worship. 

Let’s be honest: Are we humble? How would we know it?

In this body, on this earth, could I one day claim to have loved the Lord with all my heart and mind and strength, even then I would discover it was not enough. He deserves more than I could ever give Him. 

Yet before I can give anything away — whether little or all — I must first decide not to keep it back for myself. Humility is the attitude, the disposition, the response of the heart to keep back for itself nothing that belongs to God, which is everything. That’s how we know.

Pastor Jonathan