I am a Spirit…

Defined

I once heard Bill Johnson say, “Humility is preferring others.”

It’s just another way of saying, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less;” it’s preferring others. It’s putting others first. It’s thinking of others before thinking of yourself.

False Humility

Thinking less of yourself (self-degradation) is a false counterpart of true humility. Self-degradation is when you say things like, “I’m worthless, I’m not that important, I’m not worthy of attention, I’m just like a worm that eats dust…” That kind of thinking is false humility knocking at your door.

Another kind of false humility is simply acting humble when you aren’t. That can look like deflecting praise, inwardly craving recognition/notice from peers or leaders, or sweet talking your way into promotion. Either way, false humility is like poison, if you don’t treat it quickly, it will start affecting everything you do.

Expression

Humility is not de-valuing yourself. It simply taking eyes off of yourself and serving others. Humility feels no need to self-promote, but loves promoting others. When receiving praise, humility receives it, because that wasn’t it’s goal in the first place. Praise/exaltation is the reward of true humility (1 Peter 5:6, James 4:10, Matthew 23:12). Humility has complete security. Praise doesn’t lift it, failure doesn’t belittle it.

The goal of humility is to put others in the forefront of thinking so that the natural motivation becomes “how can I help them, how can I serve them, how can I change their life?”

Instead of, “how can I show people how awesome I am, let’s show people what I can do,” humility thinks, “how can my gifts serve others?” As a result, the life of humility will be a life of service (Matthew 23:11), and that will inevitably draw praise.

• You will never walk in pride if you’re constantly serving the interests of others
• You will never walk in pride if you’re constantly empowering and teaching others to do what you do, and sharing with them what you know

How can you get prideful about being the best at serving others?

Again, humility is about taking your eyes off yourself, and focusing on others. It is a natural byproduct of loving your neighbor.

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Part of humility is understanding who you are and being confident in that. Humility is agreeing with what God has said about you; it is having an accurate estimation of who you are.

It is perfect humility to declare about yourself what the Father has said about you. For me to say, “God is well pleased with me” is perfect humility because that is what He said to His Son before He did any kind of “ministry.” (Matt 3:17, Mark 1:11)

Your estimation of who you are is not defined by what you do or have done, but is defined in who God has called you to be — that is, to be like Christ.

We are admonished to “not think more highly than [we] ought to think… [and] to think soberly” in Romans 12:3, but before you think too highly, you must realize how high we have been seated (Eph 1:20-23), how great is the One in us (Col 1:26-27, Col 3:3), and the fact that we have been hand-crafted by God (Eph 2:10, Jeremiah 1:5).

You were created for glory, and to esteem yourself lower than God has esteemed you, is to degrade the Christ-identity in you. If worth of something determined by the price that was paid for it, then every person is worth the blood of Jesus. The gospel reveals your true value.

It’s a lot easier to be more humble than trying to be less prideful.

Part of humility is recognizing that you can’t do everything and being able to recognize other people’s strengths. To be humble is to be teachable, correctable, and being able to receive help. In my opinion, one of the surest signs of humility is the ability to admit error.

This video expands a little bit on the topic of self-promotion.

 

 

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Security precedes Humility

When you are completely secure in who you are, you will be able to promote others, which means that you have no problem investing in others and exalting them. You will never be jealous of anyone when you become secure in your identity.

The moment you become secure in who you are, you will feel no need to puff up your image because you have not placed your security in the opinion of man, but in Christ.

You know you’re secure in who you are if can celebrate a brother’s promotion. Anyone can celebrate a leader or a disciple, but ability to celebrate a brother (an equal) is not seen very much (David and his brothers, the disciples). You know you aren’t secure in who you are when you inventory who you aren’t and your weaknesses rather than who you are and your strengths. It doesn’t mean you ignore your weak spots, it means you don’t let it affect your ability to be confident in who you are.

Insecurity is nothing but security in the wrong thing. People who feel a need to boast are insecure in who they are. It is impossible to walk in humility if you are insecure because the nature of insecurity is to look inward. As a result, people do selfish (boasting, etc) things to get a false sense of security. Boasting gives you a false confidence in what you talk about, rather than creating confidence in Who you walk with.

The moment you become secure in your identity and the tools you have been given, is the moment you have absolute freedom to focus on others. Most people have trouble taking eyes off themselves because they have not  resolved these heart issues. They are consumed with, “But I’m not ready, I don’t feel adequate, I don’t know how, I, I, I…” and as a result, they no longer have the ability to serve others. This is why we preach identity so hard because when all your insecurities are removed, “you” are finally out of the way, and you have absolute freedom to put your attention on those around you.

To reiterate, when you begin to walk in total security, you will walk in the freedom to see other surpass you, you will have no need to prove your identity, you will be more concerned about how to serve others better rather than concerned about how to build your own name or reputation. When you can take your eyes off yourself and serve others, you will be walking in humility. How prideful can you get about washing someone else’s feet?

Security is only found in Christ. It is found in the finished work, not dead works. It is found in perfect love and acceptance, not fear of man.

GO, be free. Be confident in who you are and whose you are.

- This video will rock you.

Related Posts:

• Dealing with Pride and Worth Issues
• Purity