In the west humility is sidelined. It’ suggests being poor such as when we say, “He has a humble dwelling”. Humble means economically disadvantaged. Humility also represents subservience. In the image-conscious west people strive to be successful or to at least look that way. Appearing humble is a negative.
We are also expected to be our ‘own person’, including having things as we want them. Being humble means we do not live that cultural value.
So humility is not a high value in the west. Yet God calls us to live a humble life.
“What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?” Mic 6:8
To walk is to live, so this is something we do 24/7 as a lifestyle.
While people pursue their ideal lifestyle, in material terms, or in doing what they want as they want it, few pursue living humbly before God. Yet that is what God wants.
Have you seen people pushing their opinions? Trying to impress others, or recruit people to our perspective, is not how a humble person behaves.
Have you seen people reject something that's not what they want the way they want it? People turn their nose up at food, clothes, activities etc, when it doesn’t suit them. Christians go church hunting, to find one they like. That demand to be served with what we want is not how a humble person behaves.
Have you seen a husband or wife be hard toward their spouse because of failure to make them happy? Is that how a humble person responds?
Have you seen people upgrade to new and better things because that want to ‘keep up’? A humble person wouldn’t need to keep up with anything.
If you met a person with less than impressive job and no ambition to claw their way higher, living in modest means, out of fashion, driving a car that looks tired, wouldn’t you have a negative reaction? It’s not the modern western way.
If that person was dedicated to serving God and gave their excess to Christian ministry, more concerned about glorifying God than their own reputation, should we be ashamed of them or impressed?
Our very culture despises humility.
Note that being humble is separate from being wealthy and powerful. Moses led of the whole nation yet was the ‘meekest man that ever lived’.
“Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” Num 12:3
God blessed many people with great wealth, eg Job, Abraham, Solomon and Isaac. They could be humble before God, despite great wealth and power. So our western concepts are skewed off course. Humility is not economic or social, but a matter of the heart.
Walking humbly before God is about how readily we pay attention to God and what He wants, versus what we want. A godly humble person, no matter how rich and influential, will be willing to do what others might think ridiculous, because they are prompted by God to do it. In fact, we tend to be impressed when a great person stops to pay attention to someone of no significance, as an act of kindness.
A humble person will serve others. They will serve with a servant heart, as Christians are instructed to do in the Bible. We are told to serve each other out of our love for each other.
“You, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom to indulge your human impulses. Rather, serve one another in love.” Gal 5:13
Some people serve our of a sense of duty. Fine as that may be, Christians are asked to have a servant heart. They are to serve out of love for one another, not some duty that they don’t really like having imposed on them. A humble heart embraces the calling to serve others, rather than resenting it.
Our love for fellow Christians and our love for our neighbour, caring about others rather than ourselves, is what will testify to all around us that we are followers of Christ.
“A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” Jn 13:34,35
Sadly there are churches where people think their best testimony of being godly is to show that they have deeper theological knowledge, or that they live by stricter standards, or that they are holier than others, or that they look rich and happy. Jesus did not commend those things as evidence of our spirituality. We shine as Christ’s disciples because of our love for one another. That love shines when we are humble enough to put others ahead of us, and not to push them out of the way while we seek what we want, the way we want it.
Take a moment to ask yourself the question, ‘How much evidence is there to onlookers that I have humbled myself before God in the past day, week or month?’ Could you convince others that you have done that? Or would they only see you living for yourself, demanding things the way you want them, rejecting things God puts in front of you because they don’t suit you and doing your own thing?
I call you to recognise that your lifestyle is to be that of Walking Humbly with God.
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