On knowing God and self:
I make no claim to being a paragon of Christian virtues, including the virtue of humility. So as usual, I am writing a piece like this as much for myself as for anyone else. And I will say it at the outset: please pray for me in this regard. I have a long way to go in reflecting real biblical humility – and in eschewing carnal pride.
But I can perhaps say a few words about this matter. Sadly, most of us have known Christians, including too many Christian leaders, who may lack in basic humility, love and grace. They can be rather full of themselves, they can be proud, they can look down on others, they can be condescending, and so on.
And this might especially be true of those who are more intellectually inclined, be they teachers or writers or theologians or academics or scholars. Great learning need not make one proud, but often it can lead in that direction. So care must be taken here. And again, since I tend to be rather cerebral, I too certainly need to be on guard here.
Like you, I have experienced some of these folks who seem to have little time for me, as they busy themselves in their academic pursuits. They can ignore you or slight you and make you feel like you are a nobody. But on the other hand, I have also known some very bright and very-well known Christian leaders and scholars who have been quite the opposite.
They will take time out of their busy schedules to acknowledge me or reply to me or even thank me for something. This has happened to me at times when I write a book review of some well-known and distinguished author for example. Sometimes they will respond to me on the social media or on my own website and thank me for my review and say a few kind words.
So being full of ‘smarts’ does not of necessity mean you will become proud, aloof, arrogant and out of touch with the mere masses. But too often this can be the case. So let me speak to this a bit more, including looking at what steps we might take to ensure this is not the case in our own lives.
On humbling ourselves
Scripture of course often speaks about humility, and its opposite, pride. I want to draw upon just one passage here, James 4:10. It says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” One major question I at least want answered is this: How do I humble myself?
Again, while not claiming to be an expert in this area, I can offer a few worthwhile answers. It was John Calvin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion who famously spoke of the need for a proper basis of all true knowledge: the knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves.
And in that order. As we begin to know God as he really is, that cannot but help impact us and help us to see ourselves more truly and more accurately. As we get more and more genuine knowledge and understanding of God and self, the only real result should be for us to be humbled.
How can we not become humble as we contemplate who God really is in all his majesty and greatness and holiness and purity and perfection? And in the light of who God is, how can we not see ourselves for who we really are: selfish sinners who have as a default position pride, arrogance and the belief that we are so much better than everyone else?
As William Law (1698-1761), the English author of A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life once put it: “Humility is nothing else but a right judgment of ourselves.” That’s it. True humility is knowing who we really are, in the light of knowing God as he really is.
Not only that, but when we contemplate Christ and his work, that too can only lead us to humbling ourselves and getting on our knees before him. That the very Son of God should humble himself, come to earth in the form of a helpless baby, and end up suffering a cruel death on the cross for our sins must have an impact on us. And that impact is to humble us and take away all grounds for boasting and pride in ourselves.
So it is not so much a matter of us trying to make ourselves humble. Humility might be more of a byproduct. As we gaze into His face and behold his wonder and beauty and majesty, that should result in a proper understanding of who we really are: poor, wandering and failing creatures who need Christ every moment of our lives.
So a crucial antidote to pride is to stop measuring ourselves with others. We can always find those that are less intelligent or wise or kind or loving or patient or whatever than we are. But when we look to Christ, we see how VERY far short we all measure up. That undercuts any reason for boasting and arrogance. Looking at the cross should always knock us off our perches and send us to our knees.
It is worth closing here with the words of someone much more appropriate to speak on a topic such as this than I am. In 1895 Andrew Murray (1828-1917), the South African pastor and writer penned the book Humility. His closing words are these:
“He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Jesus himself is the proof of the truth of these words. He is the pledge of the certainty of their fulfillment to us. Let us take His yoke upon us and learn from Him, for He is meek and lowly in heart. If we are but willing to stoop to Him, as He has stooped to us, He will yet stoop to each one of us again, and we will find ourselves equally yoked with Him. As we enter deeper into the fellowship of His humility, and either humble ourselves or bear the humbling of men, we can count on the Spirit of His exaltation, “the spirit of glory and of God,” to rest upon us. The presence and the power of the glorified Christ will come to those who are of a humble spirit.
When God can again have His rightful place in us, He will lift us up. Make His glory your care in humbling yourself. He will make your glory His care in perfecting your humility, and breathing into you as your abiding life, the very Spirit of His Son. As the all-pervading life of God possesses you, there will be nothing so natural and nothing so sweet as to be nothing, with not a thought or wish for self because all is occupied with Him who filleth all. “Most gladly will I glory in my weakness, that the strength of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Brethren, have we not here the reason that our consecration and our faith have availed so little in the pursuit of holiness? It was by self and its strength that the work was done under the name of faith. It was for self and its happiness that God was called in. It was, unconsciously, but still truly, in self and its holiness that the soul rejoiced. We never knew that humility – absolute, abiding, Christlike humility and self-effacement, pervading and marking our whole life with God and man – was the most essential element of the life of the holiness we sought for.
It is only in the possession of God that I lose myself. As it is in the height and breadth and glory of the sunshine that the littleness of the speck playing in its beams is seen, even so humility is the taking our place in God’s presence to be nothing but a speck dwelling in the sunlight of His love.
“How great is God! How small am I!
Lost, swallowed up in Love’s immensity!
God only there, not I.”
May God teach us to believe that to be humble, to be nothing in His presence, is the highest attainment and the fullest blessing of the Christian life. He speaks to us: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit” (Isaiah 57:15). Be this our portion!
“Oh, to be emptier, lowlier,
Mean, unnoticed and unknown,
And to God a vessel holier,
with Christ and Christ alone!”
Prayer: Lord, teach me more about yourself and myself so that humility, not pride, might characterise my life. Amen.
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