humility

the great virtue

joshua duffy

2009

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 Contents:

• The Great Virtue

• What Is Humility?

• Practical Humility

• Results

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4
 Dedicated to

my amazing wife Jenny, who is such a

constant source of inspiration.

Pastor Bill Arsenault, who has helped

shape my Spiritual walk since day one.

And St Francis of Assisi, who was humble.

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 The Great Virtue

When we think of humility, we

often view it through eyes filled with
pride. Humility is seen more of a
hindrance to our Spiritual development
rather than of great necessity and
incredible benefit. The overwhelming fruit
that results from walking in this virtue
can only really be appreciated as you
study the lives of those whom the
Catholic and Orthodox faiths term as
saints. I use the word saints loosely, as I
view all that call on the name of the Lord
as saints. But, I also realize that those
who have been titled as ‘saints’ have

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lived far more impressive lives for God
than you or I have.

These were people who lived lives

that one could be tempted to envy, but
only on our terms. Like Scripture, we tend
to pick and choose between what we
would like to glorify, and condemn, from
their lives. The fact of the matter is
though, that people like St Francis of
Assisi, St Clare of Assisi, and Blessed
Margaret of Castello (for starters)
exemplified a life of humility that is
admirable, even for those who reject the
system which they had subjected
themselves to. I’m sure many a great
Protestants have also walked in humility
to a heroic degree, but the nature of
Protestantism, was born, and continues to
live, in a state of rebellion against
authority. Whether Martin Luther was
right or not makes no difference in
regards to humility. St Francis (for
example) was extremely distressed at
what the papacy had become, yet

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continued in submission to what he
believed was Divine government. He
rebelled (in a sense) to what he saw but
in a completely different manner. Who
has born more fruit is not the subject of
this booklet, but the way in which they
opposed authority was as different as
night and day.

The battle for humility rages on,

and the victorious will populate the
Throneroom of God Himself. There is no
room there for the prideful, nor would
they want to enter. The humble
reluctantly enter in, as they know they
are in no way worthy of such a prize.

________________________

A virtue is simply, behaviour that

is morally good, or, a good quality in
someone’s character.1 What you see in
your friends, or a potential spouse (minus
the looks, of course), what attracts you to
1
Longmans Dictionary of American English (virtue)

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them would be their virtues. Are they
kind, honest, faithful, enduring,
charismatic, compassionate? These traits
are virtues. How many of us would view
our friend, or spouse, or pastor, etc and
think ..........humility! It is a rare virtue,
and we see the obvious result of a lack of
humility within the church. It is noticeable
to church leadership, and it is more
noticeable to the world, who are the first
to cry “Hypocrite” when our actions don’t
mirror our words.

Herman of Mt Athos is credited

with saying, “Humility is the only thing we
need; one can still fall having virtue other
than humility, but with humility one does
not fall.” Without a foundation of humility,
other virtues can lead to pride. It appears
Lucifer had many virtues (Ezekiel 28:12-
19), but lacked the one needed to keep
the rest in check. I believe God is still
grieved over what happened during that
angelic rebellion.

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 Humility is recognized as the
foundation of our Spiritual life, and
inferior only to faith. But, humility is
considered the highest virtue, because
without it, true faith is impossible to
attain.2

Humility is absolutely imperative

because this places us in a position to
receive God’s grace. The best definition
of grace that I’ve heard is that it is
getting what we don’t deserve. None of
us deserve right standing with God. None
of us deserve His love. None of us
deserve eternal life. NONE. It takes great
humility to know this, yet approach God
in our sinful state, hands outstretched to
Him yet holding nothing, and plead for his
mercy (which is not getting what we do
deserve). Other religions pride
themselves on what they can get god to
do for them. Not so with Christianity.
There is no way we can repay God for

2
Catholic Encyclopedia (Humility)

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what He has done for us. Humility allows
us to approach God knowing that there is
absolutely NOTHING we can offer Him in
return for His gracious gift.

Pride will not allow this kind of

vulnerability. I don’t believe that Satan
has ever asked God for forgiveness. It is
not in the nature of pride to do so.

In the Kingdom of God there is a

constant, reoccurring theme of humility
that cannot be pushed aside. Jesus
exemplified this like no one before Him,
or after Him, ever did, or could.
Throughout history no one has made the
claims Jesus did, and actually backed
them up. A humble God, serving His
creation? How foreign to logic this
sounds. It doesn’t make an ounce of
sense. But He affected humanity like only
a God could. It was humility which Jesus
walked in when He left heaven. A
complete submission to the Father’s will.
How far we, as His children, have strayed

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from His example, with our petty
divisions and self interests. We follow our
enemy’s example more than our
Saviour’s.

Many commentators say that the

topic of humility is inferred up to 900
times throughout Scripture.3 It is fairly
noteworthy.

In saying all of this, we are to

pursue humility relentlessly, never
actually expecting to perfect it. The
moment we get to the place where we
think we have it, we prove we are
actually father from it. Only Jesus was
truly, Divinely humble, and although we
strive to imitate Him in word and deed,
we never actually expect to duplicate Him
as our flesh is stained with sin.

3
Mark Driscoll’s sermon ‘Humble Christians’ (May17/09)

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 What is Humility?

Humility is a word that is little

understood in the body of Christendom. It
is one of those words like faith, or
repentance, or love. We hope that one
day God will supernaturally reveal the
meaning of this word to us so that we
might better walk in it. We expect to
exemplify the great virtues without truly
knowing what they mean. We imply that
it is actually better not to know what they
really mean, because to do so would
place on us a burden of responsibility far
greater than we would like to bear.

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 Humility has scary overtones. It
speaks of submission, which has become
a four letter word in most Christian
circles. It implies we actually trust God to
handle things and not try to make things
happen on our own. This can be in
relationships, job advancement, Spiritual
growth, and almost every area of life. So
many times we push ahead, not letting
the beauty of humility do the work for us.
We get frustrated, and impatient, and
would rather rely on self (or pride) to
govern our actions. Perseverance is a
technical word many of us don’t have
time for. We desire to have a Savior, but
not a Lord. Better to not fully understand
the completeness of such a word as
humility, so as not to fall under all its
heaviness. After all, are you really to
blame if you are speeding in an area
where you don’t know the speed limit?

I sent an email to about 50 of my

Yahoo contacts a few years back asking
this simple question, “What is humility?”

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About 20 responded. The answers they
gave me were all related, yet quite
different as well. This is indicative of what
Christianity believes about humility.
There are related views, but not a
common consensus. There is no unity on
the subject, and as such, there is no
definitive action taken because of the
lack of cohesiveness. We do not know,
because we do not want to know. A
simple study of the “saints” is enough to
give us a good idea about what true
humility is. The information is readily and
amply available.

There are hundreds of aspects of

humility, but I want to briefly highlight
three chief ones. It is pretty safe to say
that humility can include other things
than these three, but without these you
cannot have humility.

Humility is...

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...the fear of God

All throughout Scripture it is

implied that to really know God we must
have a healthy love-based fear of Him.
After all, He is............GOD! The sheer
majesty and power of this Divine Being
demands a respect that we often
overlook. Christians love having a Savior,
but we don’t really like the whole ‘Lord’
aspect of Jesus. Humility is dependant
upon being in submission to someone
other than ourselves. Without a fear of
God, we tend to view Him as a peer,
rather than an ultimate judge. We lose
respect for Him by twisting the concept of
His unconditional grace. If it wasn’t for
Jesus, there would be no choice for us but
hell.

There is a healthy fear that is

based out of love. Such is the fear that,
as a child, you would have for your father

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or mother. Yes, you love them, and you
know that they love you, but there is still
the aspect of authority. There is no
question that your parents had (or have)
a certain authority over you and a fear of
them can be very healthy. Hebrews 12:4-
11 is quite explicit in it’s doctrine of God-
based discipline. God is a God who is
worthy of fear, as He is also worthy of our
love, and praise, and trust.

We should fear God because we

habitually sin against Him, yet He loves
us. If we break this down into human
relations, it is like being in love with
someone who continually hurts you.
There is pain, but the love is stronger
than the pain. The big difference in our
relationship with God is, He is our
Creator, and He is perfect, without sin.
This makes our relationship with Him
slightly more consequential than with
another human. We often bash Adam &
Eve for what they did after they sinned.
But who of us would not run and cover

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up, or hide a wrong from our earthly
parents? How many of have actually
already done this? Without reverential
fear, conviction lessens until
complacency sets in. When complacency
sets in, our whole faith is jeopardized.

Fearing God makes us humble as

we recognize God’s place, and our place,
in our lives. It gives us perspective on
who God is, and who we are. Without this
fear (or reverence, if you are more
comfortable with that word) the
distinction of who is in charge becomes
blurred, and God starts taking a role of
back-seat driver. We need to let God in
the driver’s seat. Why are we more
fearful of God being in control, than of
God Himself?

...incarnational (Christlike)

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 The greatest act of humility that
has ever existed was not the self-
proclamation of Moses (Numbers 12:3). It
was the incarnation of Jesus Christ
(Philippians 2:5-8). Humility caused Jesus
to abandon His abode in heaven to do His
Father’s will and come to earth to save a
people who would hate, reject, and kill
Him. Looking past this to the ultimate
goal of God required an abandonment of
self that was not know before, or has
been known since.

Missionaries are starting to be

taught that the only way to reach people
of another culture is through
incarnational ministry. This means that
instead of “Westernizing” nations with
the Gospel, you relate the Gospel to their
own culture, and find bridges to Jesus
within their culture and belief systems.
Hudson Taylor was an excellent example
of this. Instead of taking his culture with
him to China, he adopted theirs by
cutting his hair and dressing like them.

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Although he went against the grain, and
saw very little growth for many years
labor, the fruit of his efforts still remain,
and still grow today, 200 years later. His
life has been a great example for
missionaries ministering in different
cultures for decades and decades. But
even people not on the foreign mission
field can learn from his example.

Humility forsees future

consequences, and acts in accordance
with what could be years from now. It is
wise in the fact that it always wants fruit
that will last, rather than what looks and
feels good right now. It realizes that the
end of the race is important, not the
start. This is the reason why we must
take every opportunity to bridge the gap
between those we are trying to reach and
ourselves. God did it, and He did it so we
could have a solid example.

To reach people with the Gospel,

in any culture, we must be willing to give

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up our own ways and meet people where
they’re at, so that they feel at home with
what we’re presenting. This doesn’t mean
we compromise our message, it means
we present it in such a way as that
they’re already familiar with it. That is a
reason God came to earth as a man. We
can relate to Jesus in His humanity, it is a
little harder relating to Him as God, or
Spirit. God manifested Himself to us in
our form, taking on our likeness, so that
we could understand Him, and see Him as
He sees us. To reach others we need to
be able to see them as God sees them,
putting out prejudices aside for their
sake.

...repentant

This quality is rare in what I see of

Christianity today. It is one area where
we all need to work at. True repentance is
a doctrine that is as least understood as

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humility. Only the humble truly repent,
and only the humble truly want to repent.
A lack of repentance in the body of Christ
is the source of much contemplation in
heaven.

Repentance is basically feeling

sorrow because of your sin, and then
actively doing something to change. It is
not feeling sorrow because of the effects
of your sin, but sorrow over the sin itself.

If I eat a diet high in fat every day

of my life, and then develop severe
health problems because of that, I would
probably feel very sad about the results
of my sinful life. Repentance though is
feeling bad about the unhealthy lifestyle
itself, and getting help. There is an active
turning away from sin that we don’t care
to admit.

Many Christians will argue that we

are not able to defeat addictions on our
own. They make it seem like that the only

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way to be free from some sin is by God
supernaturally taking it away from you.
While I wish this were completely true
(and God does indeed take the desire
away for some sin) many of us are
defeated already by this kind of attitude.
The work Jesus came to do, which was to
destroy the works of the Devil (1John
3:8), was completed when He re-entered
heaven and took His rightful place at the
right hand of the Father. Then He
empowered us with the Holy Spirit. In
other words, He gave us the tools we
needed to lead a victorious life. If a
victorious life is found in the tools (Holy
Spirit and His workings) He gave us, then
I guess if we don’t see the fruit of the
Spirit in our lives, then we aren’t using
the tools. A defeatist attitude will not
overcome sin. It is only by growing close
to Holy Spirit that we are enabled to rise
up and take our place as children of God.
The choice is ours. He has made it all
available to those who take it. As

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Georgian Banov has said, “If we are
waiting for death to be free from sin, than
we have made death our Savior.” The
whole reason for the Gospel is our
freedom from sin. This is not a passive
freedom, but active. When Martin Luther
took his vows to become an Augustinian
monk, he was asked, “What do you
seek?” He answered, “God’s grace and
your mercy.” Then the prior asked
whether he was married, a bondsman,
secretly sick? The answer being “No”, the
prior explained the hardship of the life to
be willingly endured; the renunciation of
self-will, the poor diet, rough and
uncomfortable clothing, vigils by night
and work by day, mortification of the
flesh, the shame of poverty, the
embarrassment of begging, and the
inconvenience of cloistered existence.
Was he ready to take upon himself this
kind of life? “Yes, with God’s help,” was
his answer, “and in so far as human
frailty allows.” What we possess may

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indeed be frail, but with God’s help, we
can endure. We have examples in this life
of people who were overcomers for
Christ, lets learn from them. When we
miss it, we repent, but let’s at least give it
a go instead of giving up before we try.

As we grow closer in relationship

to Holy Spirit, He blesses us with this
wonderful gift of repentance, which is
owning up to our sin and rejecting it. The
closer we get to God, the more willing
and eager we are to do this. Sin starts to
revolt us as much as God did when we
did not know Him. It is our own personal
great exchange; our love of sin, for His
love of righteousness.

Much shame in Christianity comes

from Christians running away from God
after they sin. When Adam & Eve sinned
it wasn’t God who hid from them, it was
they who hid from God. We commit the
same sin today. Repentance involves
coming to God and exposing your sin to

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Him, not running away and hiding it.
Humility exposes private sin, while pride
covers it up.

This is not the place for an

exegesis on repentance. It is enough to
say that, as Christians, sin should abhor
us. We should cringe when we sin. This is
a sign that our relationship with God is
maturing. Rejecting something is proof of
our distaste for it, and if we harbour sin,
then we are enjoying it in a way that
needs to be rejected.

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 Practical Humility

All that has been said so far is well

and good, but there needs to be
emphasis on the practical as well. Many
of us read theology and fail to apply it
because it lacks a practical balance. So,
what exactly does humility look like?
When an unbeliever (or a believer, for
that matter) looks at our life, would they
call us humble? How would they even
make that assumption? What are
humility’s calling cards?

The best post-Biblical teaching I

know of on humility outside the lives of

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the saints has been taught by Mark
Driscoll, who is a pastor at Mars Hill
Church in Seattle. He has greatly
influenced my learning on the subject and
I am indebted to him for his teaching.
Rolland Baker is also a great influence of
mine in this area. Their teachings and
lives have helped shape this chapter.

Humble Christians are...

... submissive to God and to

legitimate authority

As Christians, our Bible explicitly

states that we are to obey our earthly
government (1Peter 2:13-14). This
subject has been the cause for much
debate within Christianity, but the text
remains the same. Until our earthly
government causes us to sin against God,

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we are to respect them as the authority
that has proceeded from God.

In Acts 4 the disciples were

threatened and commanded not to
preach Jesus anymore, but they resisted
that authority because of a clear
mandate from God. Often our rebellion
towards authority looks little as it did
here. We base our rebellion on our own
interests (like Lucifer did), while the
disciples had the Great Commission
driving their actions. We hide behind
some Scripture sometimes, taking it out
of context, to justify our own pride.

I do not need to agree with the

prime minister of Canada to respect his
office. And that is what submission to
government comes down to. I believe
that God has placed the institution of
government upon the earth, but that we,
as humans with free choice, elect (or
influence) who occupies those offices.
This view allows me to separate the

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person, from the office they occupy. We
are to respect the rank above the person.
This also allows me to obey someone who
I do not necessarily agree with.

One of the most amazing facts

about Jesus, in my opinion, is that He not
only paid His own taxes, but He paid
others taxes (Matthew 17:24-27)!! He
submitted to the Roman authorities. God
submitted to earthly governmental
authority when their jurisdiction
demanded. As our example, we should do
the same.

It should be recognized that not

every country enjoys the freedom the
Western World does. This makes it more
difficult, but in no way nullifies the
meaning of Peter. Christians need to take
seriously this command. When Peter
wrote those words, there was not one
Christian government upon the earth.
Everywhere was led by pagans. Peter
understood the principle of respecting the

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office, even if the men holding it were to
be less desired. Maybe we would have
more influence towards the government if
we held that position as well.

We need to realize that authority

itself comes from God and that He
Himself was not above it, but subjected
Himself to that which He created and
instigated (John 19:10-11). Jesus reminds
us that He did not come to earth of His
own accord, but that in humility, in
submission to authority, He obeyed the
Father’s sending of Him (John 8:42).

When we reject or oppose

authority, we are telling ourselves and
others that we are above reproach and
that we are better than others. In truth,
we need authority because we are all
sinners and we all make mistakes. The
stigma of sinfulness should humble us to
place ourselves under other imperfect
people, who place themselves under

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others, as we all place ourselves under a
sinless God.

... a blessing, not a burden, to their

church

What does your pastor think of

you? When he is having time alone with
God, lifting members of the congregation
up before Him, what does he pray
concerning you? Does he pray, “Thank
you Lord that (whoever) is part of this
church. They realize that we’re not
perfect, and they help to make us better.
What a blessing they have proven to be.”
Or do his prayer for you center on all the
faults you find with your church, and the
pastor, and the teaching, and the
children’s ministry, and outreach, etc etc
etc. Does your pastor thank God that you
are a part of his congregation? ......He
should.

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 We are part of a church so that we
may serve it. In this (as in almost
everything), Jesus is our great example
(Matthew 20:28). Christians usually come
to church so they can get something, or
be served. A blessing, a healing,
fellowship, an exhortation, a ‘word’, etc,
but rarely do Christians come to church
to give something, or serve in some
capacity. The church does not exist for
the Christians, but Christians for the
church. When we start abandoning all
desires for recognition and self-glory, we
may take this Gospel seriously and start
really making a difference in where we
live. The church is the closest thing we
have to Jesus upon the earth. It is
continually called His body, yet we seem
to esteem the little parts we make up of it
more than the body as a whole. That
means His body is incapacitated from
accomplishing the best that is possible.

Humility drives away all ambition

from self. It focuses on how we can

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benefit something greater (the church)
than ourselves.

We live in a time where church-

hopping is rampant. Church-hopping is a
sickness within the body of Christ which
must be healed before the body can be
well enough to do its work. There needs
to be stability in our Spiritual lives, and
we need accountability, in the form of a
pastor, in our lives who can direct us
Spiritually. This is God’s plan for our lives.
To call yourself a Christian and not be a
member of a local church is hypocritical,
and so prideful that you are blind to what
the Scripture teaches, and to what history
has proven.

Many Christians raise the cry of

“We must return to Apostolic
Christendom, such as that which was
lived by the early church!” That’s fine,
but there was such an emphasis on
church relations in those days that those
same Christians would probably be

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expelled from any early Christian church.
Church membership was a big deal
throughout our history. A terrible thing
that happened in the time of the
Reformation was that people used Martin
Luther for no other reason than to escape
Catholicism. Many people just wanted out
of religion! Because of the rebellion that
birthed Protestantism, we are now
children of rebellion, who, when we
dislike or disagree with a certain
teaching, are quick to pack our bags and
move on to the next church, for a month
or two. This is not Christianity, it is
apostasy. It is the farthest thing from
humility we can imagine.

It is actually wrong to call Martin

Luther a reformer. To reform something
means to make something better. Luther
did not reform Christianity; he broke
away from the Catholic Church and
started something different. That is not
reformation, it is revolution. For better or
for worse, that is not the subject here.

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The point is that denominationalism was
birthed in this movement, and now we
don’t feel any obligation to submit to
anyone else’s authority! We are all free to
come to our own conclusions about the
meaning of Scripture, which has positives
and negatives, therefore, what makes
you think that you know more than me?
Have we all become infallible? We act like
it.

Humility submits to those in

authority. It doesn’t get offended, it
submits. It recognizes that those in
authority will have to answer to God for
how they shepard their flocks (Hebrews
13:17). It doesn’t split up, it solidifies.

To paraphrase Rick Joyner; it

doesn’t take a very good prophet to pick
apart the church, and see all the
mistakes, and tear it down. But it takes a
good one to see the bones, and then
speak life to them, provoking change
(Ezekiel 37:1-14). We need more servants

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who help rather than hinder the church.
In this day, what we don’t need are more
denominations, we need a strengthened,
unified church!

... respectful of their elders

Hebrews 13:17 says that we are to

submit to those in authority over us,
because they are keeping watch over our
souls and WILL give an account of their
ministry to us before God.

Many times we feel that our

leadership is unconcerned with our
Spiritual direction. It is so easy to let
pride stoke the fires of our emotions, and
become judgmental of those who we

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have placed in authority over us. If we
are a member of a church (which
outwardly looks like taking regular
communion within a church body), then
we have placed ourselves under the
Spiritual care of the leadership within.

God desires a hierarchy within His

church. There is equality of members to
be sure, but there are also levels which
help maintain order. If we understood
that our leaders WILL give an account to
God for their advice to us, we may well
heed their words a bit more.

It is tragic that we confer a greater

respect to our secular bosses than our
Spiritual advisors. If our boss were to tell
us something that would improve or
hinder our advancement in a company
we would take heed and be quick to
reform our lives to fit in with what he
said. Often times though, we will blow off
what our pastor advises. It is no wonder
the body of Christ is in such a desperate

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state, when we respect the words of
someone whose goal is to increase our
productivity for their benefit, more than
the words of someone whose goal it is to
get us positioned in the place where God
wants us to be so we can influence our
surroundings to the glory of God.

A large part of our problem is that

we want to see our pastor as our friend,
and not our authority. We love pats on
the back, and words of affirmation, but if
they should speak to us about part of our
lives that they might be concerned with,
we tend to get defensive immediately.
Defensiveness is about as foreign to
humility as darkness is to light. Humility
never defends itself because it knows
that ‘self’ is not worth sticking up for
anyway.

The fact is pastors should never

be our friends. There is too much at stake
for that line to be blurred. I think I have a
great relationship with my pastor, but I

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also realize that to get all buddy buddy
could lead to incredible offense if he ever
needs to seriously speak into my life. How
many people have left their home church
because of offense over pastoral
relations? Way too many. With the right
point of view, I believe many of these
cases could have been avoided.

One thing a pastor is not, is our

personal friend. Many of the conflicts
within a pastoral relationship centers on
the fact that most Christians want, and
expect, this of their pastor. Early in my
Christian walk my pastor told a parable
on this very subject. He said that a pastor
should be a pastor to you, not your friend.
It’s not his job to pat you on the back, or
make you feel good, or help you justify
your bad decisions. It’s his job to pastor
you, whether you like it or not.

This story continues to teach me

today. It has helped me relate to different
pastors through the years I have been a

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Christian, and it has also helped me in my
relationships with those I have been in a
position of authority over. It has proved
to be an invaluable teaching to me.

We inwardly covet a pastor who

will be our friend and never say harsh
things to us. This is never a benefit to us
though. Wolves have this trait, true
pastors do not. Hard as it may be, their
job is to correct us when need be, and not
let their personal feelings for us get in the
way of their position of impartiality.

How do we react when we feel

God is calling us to a certain area and our
pastor does not agree? Do we suddenly
become the elder? Do we submit to him,
as to one who is keeping watch over our
soul, and will give an account of his
sheparding? Most of us get offended and
go do what we want, with or without his
blessing. This is wrong, and anything but
humble.

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 I am all but convinced that giving
up what you think is your calling in
response to obedience will bring more
blessing on your life than rebelling
against authority and going to fulfill what
you think God has for your life. It sounds
foolish, and I can hear people voicing
their objections already, but I am quite
convinced on the subject. I think of all the
saints who didn’t agree with the lifestyles
of the leaders of the Catholic church in
their times, yet humbled themselves,
served them, and became an example of
a Godly life within an un-Godly system.

Ultimately, we think we should be

in charge of our Spiritual direction. We
fail to realize that we follow sin. We are
on the path to hell when we rebuke
authority. Repent, and turn around, and
get back on the path Jesus took. His was
a path of submission, of denial, of
forsaking what He thought was best for
the sake of everyone else. This, is an

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example. A selfless life that should be
idolized by us all.

Much of our discontentment

comes from ignorance surrounding
‘calling’ and ‘timing’. As human beings,
we crave promotion. We crave someone
telling us that we deserve better because
of how well we’ve done, or are doing. To
approach your pastor with grand desires
of the future which are dependant upon
his approval (ie: a more active role in
ministry, financial support, etc) can be
life shattering if servanthood is not
inherent within your personality. We must
realize that God’s calling and God’s
timing are completely different. It is our
pastor who is in the best position to
gauge whether or not we are ready for
those things we believe God is preparing
us for.

If I believe that God has called me

to be a Youth Pastor and I approach my
pastor with my idea, he will likely advise

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me on a course of action that will one day
result in that goal being achieved. I may
get offended however, because the need
is NOW, and precious years will be lost by
the training my pastor thinks is needed. If
God has called me, why bother waiting?
After all, Jesus didn’t change the water
into any ole wine, but he changed it into
mature wine. He could do the same in my
position.

The Bible compares rebellion to

witchcraft, and this is an example of it.
There is no rush with God, He can
produce the same fruit in 2 years, as we
can in 20. God is concerned with our
motives, not the numbers. He desires to
see the fruit of patience, honor, and
humility worked out in our lives. The
Christian life is one where investment is
needed. It truly is a marathon, not a race.
How many have fallen because they
started out sprinting to fast? Too many.

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 It is God Himself, who exalts or
promotes the humble. We chase after
things which we have no power to get, or
which are so temporary that it seems
ridiculous to chase them. Our mindset
must be Kingdom centered. Only that
which advances the Gospel must take
priority within our minds. It is only that
which will stand till the end.

Our greatest example in humility

is Jesus. He had EVERYTHING. Heaven
was His, and His glory was not surpassed.
Then, in humility, he abandoned this,
came to earth, and partook of fallen
humanity to redeem us. Not because we
deserved it, but because the Father loved
us above all else. Jesus lowered Himself,
and because of this, God exalted Him to a
position that is absolutely unattainable.

Lucifer, on the other hand, had

everything, yet wanted more. His whole
being craved to be God. He was not
content to occupy that which God had

46
given him (which was more than anything
other than Jesus), but wanted to attain
more and more and more and more, to
go higher and higher and higher.

The result of Lucifer’s passions

was abasement in the highest degree.
God cast him down from everything to
nothing. He wanted promotion, yet got
FIRED.

Lucifer’s cry was “Higher, more.”

Jesus’ cry was “Lower, less.” We see the
results, yet what is the cry of most
Christians today? From whom do we take
our example? We had better look to
Jesus, and lower ourselves in humility.
Advancement comes in the form of
submission, and promotion within
humility.

To sum up this section, I do not

mean to imply that we should
wholeheartedly submit to those whom
abuse us. This is perverse, and if abuse is

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happening then we should seek other
Godly counsel as how to proceed. We
should approach God in prayer on the
subject, and take counsel of other leaders
(friends are usually not the best
resource). In a multitude of counsellors,
there is safety (Proverbs 11:14).

... accepting and thankful for

correction

If we are ever willing to test

ourselves in the area of humility/pride, we
need to think of a time when we were
corrected, and how we responded. Most
of us have huge issues with receiving
correction.

It’s not that we don’t ever think

we’re wrong, it’s just that we don’t like
anyone else telling us. We interpret the
freedom of Christ to mean that we are
free from all these types of

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condemnation, but we reject the very
means which God uses to keep us on the
right track. And that’s not to say that
there aren’t trigger happy Christians who
like to knitpick in their own accord, but
we shouldn’t let the minority distort our
perceptions about the majority. especially
when that majority is acting according to
sound, Biblical principles.

Receive correction for what it is;

an opportunity to grow. Separate the man
from the correction and you will be able
to see the words they bring as words
from God, and not a person you may
dislike. If you truly do not believe their
words are true, submit them to higher
authority, and accept the consequences.
The most damaging thing we can do is
disdain their words as those of someone
on a lower level of Spirituality than us.
They bring to us an opportunity for
blessing, even though it may be veiled.

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... teachable

It is suffice to say that humble

people like to learn, proud people like to
teach. We have all been to Bible studies
where one participant simply could not
shut up, and looked to override any and
all opinions thinking their opinion of
Scripture was of a higher caliber than
everyone else’s. Maybe we have been
guilty of this as well.

Humility craves to learn from

others. It recognizes the value of others
and endeavours to draw it out of them.
Humility is aware that we all have
doctrine that is lacking. My own
interpretation is not infallible because I
myself am not infallible. There is great
wisdom in learning this way. People like
this are more apt to study both sides of
the story, rather than hide themselves
away in their Spiritual closet with the
preachers that tickle their own ears
(2Timothy 4:3). It is far more beneficial to

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listen to people whom you don’t agree
with as well. Many Christians do not like
certain preachers, but have never
actually listened to those preachers. I
have my iTunes podcast page listed with
many sermons of those who I would
openly disagree with. I find it gives me a
much more balanced view of Christianity.

You can easily differentiate

between the ‘teachers’ and ‘learners’ in
the church today. “Teachers” (those who
are not in leadership, just think they are)
tend not to have a lot of close friends
because people don’t like being around
them.

It’s funny though, the more you

humble yourself and learn from others,
the more they will want you to teach
them, and this quality allows you to teach
them in a spirit of genuineness.

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... considerate of others

Common sense is not an abundant

trait within humanity, it seems. You just
have to take your car onto the road to
see the lack of consideration given to
most people by most people. Humility
always puts others first.

How do you treat people on the

roads? Do you butt past people in lines?
These kinds of actions reveal our heart.

Whether we like someone or not,

gives us no reason not to love them. This
should be the defining mark of a
Christian. The Bible commands us to
‘love’, not ‘like’. The true mark of love is
unconditional, meaning that love doesn’t
prove itself by drawing close to those who

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draw close to it, it draws close to those
who reject it. That is love’s nature. It is
attracted to those whom it may not
necessarily like.

There is so much unnecessary

guilt within the body of Christ today as
we feel the need to ‘like’ everyone in our
church, or our Men’s Group, or Bible
Study or whatever. There is a terrible
feeling when we are going to a small
group meeting and we feel pressure to
like those who we flat out do not. This is
ok. If we focus of the fact that there is a
unity in Christ, and we are working for the
greater good of humanity, then whether
we like each other’s personalities makes
little difference. We are then united by a
higher purpose, and put personal feelings
aside for the glory of God.

I used to go to a Men’s Group and

it was one of the most awful times I can
imagine, simply because you could feel
everyone trying to like each other, and it

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was obvious that everyone didn’t like
everyone. This is ok! Every personality is
not going to mesh. It is enough if we
recognize this, yet maintain a spirit of
unity towards fulfilling the desires of God
upon the earth, which can basically be
summed up as sharing His love with
everyone we encounter.

We don’t have to like someone to

be considerate of them. I personally have
a personality that makes it difficult to
have a lot of close friends. I am extremely
introverted. I could beat myself up and
make an effort to change who God has
created me to be, or I could use that
personality to the glory of God.

I have learned to separate like and

love. If someone who I do not like has a
need, I can meet that need in love. No
problem, nor should it be. Love is not love
if it is conditional anyway.

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 Romans 12:10 tells us that we
should outdo one another in giving honor.
What an awesome event this would look
like. Instead of inwardly coveting
someone else’s gifts, what if we openly
gave them credit for them. It would be a
powerful thing to see Christians
honouring one another in areas that they
themselves needed work in. Let us strive
to advance in this area, because it
promotes unity, and unity in the Body =
power. Leonard Ravenhill has said that
“Church unity comes from corporate
humility”. It is possible to see this
improved upon, and to see the church
rise up in corporate power in our lifetime.

Being considerate of others

ultimately goes back to putting other
people before us. It means seeing others
as equally (or more) important than we
are. Its thoughts are directed towards
“you”, not “me”. It is so sad than this is
such a foreign concept to our prideful
hearts. What a work God still needs to do

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in us. The work He accomplished in our
Spirit can never be improved upon, but
our flesh leaves something to be desired.
God recreated our Spirits completely, but
He left us with the tools to improve our
flesh. We have grown comfortable
abusing our freedom, and to walk in the
fullness of what God calls us to requires
maturity.

... constantly aware of God’s grace in

their lives

1 Peter 2:16 says that we are to

act as free men, but not to use that
freedom for doing what we want to, but
for serving God. Being aware of God’s
grace keeps us humble. Grace is getting
what we don’t deserve. When we focus
on the fact that God owes us nothing, and
that we are incapable of paying off the
huge debt that the death of Jesus cost,
we tend to live our lives more humbly

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than we did before. This freedom in Christ
is not a license to do whatever we want.
It is a freedom to follow Jesus and live a
life pleasing to Him. Freedom to do
whatever we want is not really freedom
at all, seeing as though we all have a
tendency to follow our flesh and return to
sin. The death and resurrection of Jesus
brought actual freedom. It gives us the
liberty to humbly accept the lot God has
for us in life. If we have only Jesus, it is
enough, because He is sufficient to fulfill
whatever our hearts crave and desire.

When we are constantly aware of

God’s grace in our lives, we are content
with what we have, not coveting what we
don’t have. We realize that we deserve
nothing, and that our very lives are an
awesome gift of God’s grace.

I’m concerned with Christians who

always seem to be demanding something
from God and/or His angels. Whether it’s
money, or healing, or blessings, or

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miracles, or authority, or whatever, the
motives always seem to be the same;
me, me, me. Our prayers are steeped in
much more pride than humility, and that
is a reason for their ineffectiveness. If we
get down to the bare facts, we have to
admit that what we deserve from God is
not healing, or miracles, or
prosperity ...................its hell. And that is
where grace comes in. Recognizing this,
that it is only by grace that we receive
from God, keeps our hearts from entering
into pride. Self becomes obsolete,
because the only thing ‘self’ can do for us
is damn us.

Focus on the grace of God. Focus

on His mercy. The best definitions I have
heard of those words are: Grace is getting
what we don’t deserve while mercy is not
getting what we do deserve. By grace we
receive salvation, by mercy we escape
hell. They are two sides of the same coin.
And they are two realizations that keep

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our hearts pure, and cultivate the virtue
of humility.

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 Results

The rewards of living a humble life

are just that. Humility, like love, and most
virtues, are their own rewards. The
minute we recognize there are rewards to
living humbly, that awful pride rears its
head, and a struggle ensues. The benefit
of humility is the defeat of pride, that age
old enemy that is the oldest of sins.

We could look at Biblical based

advantages of humility, such as honor,
wisdom, unity, rewards in heaven, etc,

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but it is suffice to say that without
humility we cannot take advantage of the
greatest benefit ever bestowed upon
humanity, which is complete assurance of
eternal salvation. The moment other
benefits enter into our minds about what
else we can receive by being humble, we
enter dangerous waters and our motives
become polluted. Humility seeks nothing
else but being consumed by the very will
of God. Self ceases, and He reigns.

We also need to constantly keep

in mind that humility is an endless
journey. It is designed in such a way that
the end is always out of reach. This is a
good thing, because humility always
seeks to grow, never to attain.

None of us will ever achieve

humility, but we are to pursue it by God’s
grace, bearing in mind the example Jesus,
and many of His ‘saints’, have left us
with. We are to pursue it as if our very
salvation were dependant upon it.

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 Whoever has read this incomplete,
and lacking look at this worthwhile
subject is hopefully a little more
accountable to humility than what they
were before. It is my prayer that we
would all forsake ourselves for the glory
of, not just our Savior, but our Master and
Lord. We need to realize that to be a
servant (slave) is more glorifying than to
be a ruler. God desires our earthen
vessels to carry so much more than we
presently carry, and the only vessel large
enough to hold all that God has for us is
one named Humility.

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