What is Humility?
Humility is recognising you’ve made a mistake and taking full responsibility for your actions and your attitudes.
Humility is not making excuses, not avoiding nor resisting the responsibilities you’ve been given.
Humility is modesty, yet it is not lacking in confidence. In fact, humility is being so confident in GOD that you can do anything (but you know it isn’t really you that is doing it)!
Humility is granting others the recognition they are due, and accepting recognition you are offered: graciously, peacefully, quietly.
Humility is patience with others, forgiveness to self, and offering grace to all.
That is personal humility. So how does it work at church level?
A church is humble when its congregation and leadership row together and support each other.
A church is humble when it recognises its role in a community and does not compete nor feel threatened by other churches and organisations.
A humble church does not gossip.
A humble church perseveres.
A humble church knows who the Master is and does not look to man but to GOD, each member and each leader looking to the one Father who is in Heaven, for leadership, guidance and hope.
A humble church looks to see who it can help, not who can help it.
A humble church, and a humble person, “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Yes, this is Paul’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 but does not love intermingle with humility? Isn’t humility love in action and character and grace?
Humility for today
May I encourage us all to walk in true humility: not in false modesty and self-deprecation; not lacking in confidence but bold in confidence yet not having the urge to prove it; not fighting, debating or squabbling over issues that will not matter in a year’s time, but standing for the One Truth that matters above everything else: the Gospel of Yeshua/Jesus, the ultimate example of humility and perfect confidence combined.