Humility: Jesus' Teaching - In Word and Deed

I lift up my eyes to you,
  to you whose throne is in heaven.
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
  till he shows us his mercy.  (Psalm 123:1-2)

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  (Matthew 11:28-30)

The chief glory of heaven, the true heavenly-mindedness, the chief of the graces, is humility. "He that is least among you, the same shall be great. "

Just as water ever seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds the creature abased and empty, His glory and power flow in to exalt and to bless.

Let us study the words [of Christ] we have been reading, until our heart is filled with the thought: My one need is humility. And let us believe that what He shows, He gives; what He is, He imparts. (Andrew Murray, Humility, Chapter 4)

Faith without humility can only be placed in oneself.  The essence of pride is trusting oneself above everyone else.  The essence of humility is faith in God and in those he sends to me.  So humility is the right placement of trust in my life; pride is the wrong placement of trust.  Humility is pictured so well as a servant looking to his master for mercy and kindness.  May my eyes be lifted up only to see you, Lord, and seek your merciful grace.


Humility is rest for my soul.  In humility, I lay my burdens down and take up the yoke of Jesus: a gentle and humble heart.  Compared to the ever-increasing burden of pride, which always takes more than it gives and burdens the soul with worry and suspicion, humility lightens my soul as I give up more and more of my worries and desires.  They are replaced with the peace and joy of Jesus, who looked for God's glory and relied on God for his needs and desires.  May I throw off the burden of pride and run to you, Lord, crying, "Life, life, eternal life!"

There are physical laws through which creation obeys the word of God.  Water flows to the lowest place.  There are spiritual laws that also govern spiritual beings.  God's glory and power flow into his humble servants. Understanding the laws of creation, we use the fall of water to make power, beauty, and even health.  It is harder to acknowledge and use the moral and spiritual laws that can also bring power, beauty, and healing.

Probably the hardest thing is that humility cannot be obtained without God.  And yet, it can be learned, if what Jesus said was true.  It may be that much of the reason God does not act in my life is because I lack humility.  I will not let him act as God, but only as an idol I can control.  I ask for his help, but live like I do not want or need it.  I look to him for healing, but refuse to stay in his care until I recover.  My words sound humble, but my daily life belies them: I live depending on my own resources.

Lord, I have so much to learn!  I speak like I trust you, but find that I quickly turn elsewhere for help.  I am burdened with my pride's demands, but I refuse to lay it down in fear of what humility might ask of me.  Help me to live as I pray, with you as my daily bread and deliverer.  Amen.


What kind of burdens does your pride lay on your shoulders?  How often do you ask God and actually wait for him to answer and work in your life?  Do you think you can trust God to come through?

Humility: Jesus' Inner Life - Doing What God Does

Not to us, O Lord, not to us
  but to your name be the glory
  because of your unfailing love and faithfulness.  (Psalm 115:1) 

I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  (John 5:19)

In the Gospel of John we have the inner life of our Lord laid open to us. Jesus speaks frequently of His relation to the Father, of the motives by which He is guided, of His consciousness of the power and spirit in which He acts.

Listen to the words in which our Lord speaks of His relation to the Father, and how unceasingly He uses the words not, and nothing, of Himself.

[Jesus' words] teach us what the essential nature and life is of that redemption which Christ accomplished and now communicates. It is this: He was nothing, that God might be all.

This life of entire self-abnegation, of absolute submission and dependence upon the Father's will, Christ found to be one of perfect peace and joy.

His humility was simply the surrender of Himself to God, to allow Him to do in Him what He pleased, whatever men around might say of Him, or do to Him.  (Andrew Murray, Humility, Chapter 3)

In the face of great art, great works of literature, great feats of strength and skill, and great acts of kindness I am sometimes brought into a sense of awe at what can be done by a person dedicated to such actions.  I think of myself as rather mediocre and even lazy.  My life can seem colorless and empty in the face of greatness.

Self-deprecation is not a virtue, but the feeling of awe which inspires me to live for something greater than just "getting by" can lead me to virtue.  Such is the humility of the psalmist (115:1) who gives glory to God and not himself.  The great feats of God are love and faithfulness.  By such actions, I am brought to my knees in amazement.  All the great feats of people never match the greatness of God, who, although greater than anyone, made himself less that everyone.  The incarnation of Christ shows this best.  May my awe of your greatness inspire a desire to join in your greatness by learning your humility, Lord.


Jesus' explanation of only doing what he sees the Father doing has typically only meant something about the unity of the Trinity to me.  I saw them as words explaining how the Son and the Father are one.  I had thought Jesus was merely proving his equality with his Father so he could show his authority over the Pharisees.  It sounded almost like he was saying, "Well, at least I am doing what God wants while you are not."

These are not small things.  Proof for the Trinity and Jesus' authority are entirely necessary for my faith.  However, Jesus did not come primarily to prove something or to show his authority.  He came so that I might have life and have it abundantly.  He came to set me free.  Free for what?  Free to live as he and the Father live.  Only God can be God to be sure, but he invites me to taste in the love and humility that make the Trinity so good.  In the end Jesus' words about only doing God's will are about what it means to really live.  Let me seek to do what you do, Lord, so that I might have life - real life.


Lately, I have been seeking peace.  Usually I equate peace with indifference or ease.  I think that I would be much more peaceful if I didn't care too much.  I think I would be more peaceful if I had some privacy and quiet or maybe a relaxing night with some friends.  I do not usually think that doing what God is doing would bring me peace.

What I think God is doing shows a lot of what I think about God.  If he is the cosmic police officer, then he is busy handing out tickets and punishing wrong-doing.  If he is the universal grandfather, he is gently sitting back watching his grandkids and giving them gifts while he allows someone or something else to parent them.  If he is a complete martyr, he is pleading for me to recognize his graciousness and goodness while not expecting much response from me.

What do I think God is doing?  One time I was trying to have a quiet time with God in the morning and my children were playing and laughing and making a racket.  I huffed off to my room by myself where I could concentrate.  I continued to have trouble hearing God and being with him.  Eventually I called out in frustration, "Where are you, Lord?"  He told me, "I'm playing with the kids.  What are you doing?"

It is not that God is merely playing all the time or that he is always doing something that I am not.  The point was that I would not find out what he is doing by being angry with my kids while doing something I deemed "good."  He still met me in my time with him and taught me how self-important I can become, but he also taught me that I need to stay near him and ask him in order to find out what he is doing and not just assume I know.

Much of what God has laid out for me to do is quite ordinary: raise kids, love my wife, do my job, help at home, daily seek his face, etc.  This is not merely "busy work" between what God is doing, but it is what God is doing.  He delights in the "small" things in themselves because they are what the "bigger" things are built with.  Actually, God's designation of what is small and big differs from mine often.  "What is highly valued among men is detestable to God." (Luke 16:15)

Humility enables me to see what God is doing.  Pride blinds me to God's desires and actions.  Really, pride is the condition of indifference or aversion to what God is doing.  Humility is a constant awareness of what God is doing with the intention of joining him.  Jesus could do what his Father was doing because he made it his job to know what God is doing.  He communed regularly with his Father and encouraged his disciples to do the same.

Pride narrows my view to my own actions and intentions.  I only see what I want and seek to get it at whatever cost.  Pride cannot see what anyone else is doing, only what how others are interfering with what I am doing.  Pride makes it impossible to do what other people are doing.  It only uses other people and God to further my own actions.

Humility broadens my view to see the actions and desires of God and other people.  It seeks to further others' desires and intentions.  Humility is impossible without a God who takes care of my needs and desires.  When I realize my place in God's heart and in God's kingdom, I find that I what to work for him and with him more than anything else.  This is humility.

Lord, I realize how much I struggle with pride when I seek to do what you are doing.  I worry about getting what I want.  I worry about missing out on good things.  I get frustrated when things don't go my way.  But peace and joy are found not with pride, but only with asking, seeking, and training to be like Jesus, who did nothing for himself, but always did what you wanted.  Only in you and with you will I find love, joy, and peace, and life.  Amen.


Do you trust God enough to do what he is doing?  Do you think that a life like Jesus would be full of peace and joy or cramped and dull?