Necessary Humility

The more I read my Bible the more I'm convinced that Christian virtues are not simply nice things to have, but they are necessary.  We may not all have the virtues in the same measure, but the virtues are things that must be growing in us and producing fruit.

Humility is one of the necessary virtues.

Without humility one cannot properly please God.  This isn't to say that our humility is necessary for our justification, because it isn't.  God would spend eternity searching for worthy souls if it were not His way to go about giving grace upon grace where none is due.  But without humility one cannot properly please God.

What is humility?  Rick Warren famously said, "True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it's thinking of yourself less."  C.S. Lewis is often attributed with that quote, and quite frankly I thought it was his until I went to my copy of Screwtape, but Lewis likely started Warren's gears in that direction when he described humility as a self-forgetfulness.

That seems to be humility in our relation to other people, but what about in regards to God?  I think humility in the vertical is a right understanding of our extreme smallness in comparison to God's infinite enormity.

We need both types of humility and the vertical humility will feed the horizontal.   Let's look at a few passages on humility.

"Then King David went in and sat before the LORD , and he said:
Who am I, Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far... Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD?" 2 Samuel 8:18 & 19b

"When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?" Psalm 8:3-4

"Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth." Matthew 5:5

"... whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave... just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,  and to give His life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:26-27

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." James 4:10

Humility is necessary for all Christians because in the economy of the Kingdom the way up is down.  Humility is not only necessary for greatness in the Kingdom, but for entry.  No one that thinks too highly of himself will think highly enough of his Lord to submit as a true disciple must. 

Humility is not a nice character trait.  Humility is what believers are to be clothed in.

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12

"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because,
'God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.'
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time." 1 Peter 5:5b-6

Clothe yourselves in true humility toward one another and God today.