Humble....Revisited

In early August, I wrote a blog post about being humble. (You  can find it on the right side of the blog under "Blog Archive" by clicking "August, Humble". After posting it, I received constructive feedback from two dear friends that is important to share. Each gave a definition or clarification about the meaning of being humble which I neglected to make clear and am so glad they brought it to my attention!

My friend Elke shared this definition which she heard or read: "Humility is not thinking less of yourself it is thinking about yourself less." She said, "I like it because Christians have sometimes emphasized putting ourselves down, which isn't really Biblical if we believe we are created in God's image and 'God saw that it was good.' But it puts the other persons' needs before our own, just like Christ sacrificed for our needs."

 Genesis 1:27
"So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him; 
male and female he created them."

From my friend Steve: "When you speak of lowering one’s importance, I think it it is always good to affirm a persons value while they lower their sense of control or significance. Some people already have a very low opinion of themselves and consider themselves humble, but what really they are is proud because they are putting themselves down and not lifting anyone up. I love the definition of humility of: putting yourself down while you lift Jesus up. Just like John the Baptist said: 'I must decrease He must increase....' "

John 3:28-30

"You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, 

but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. 

The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, 

rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. 

Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.

He must increase, but I must decrease.”

They are so right! We are created by the God of the universe and in His image; therefore, we all have value and are important. Absolutely! Where we run into trouble is when we start thinking that we are better or more important than another human being. So if we combine the definitions they shared, we have something like this:  

Humble: 
Lifting Jesus up at all times, 

showing God's love to others more, 

and thinking of ourselves less.

What do you think?

I want to end with the last part of what Steve shared, because I absolutely love how he worded it. 

"We were created as a testimony to the giving Love of God. And we are to give glory to him by being in the flow of that love constantly outward to others."

Isn't that beautiful? I can picture God's love like a river that is flowing over us and all around us and as we are swept away by His love, we cannot help but let that love, His love, flow out to others that we come in contact with each and every day. It does not diminish who we are, it simply points others to who He is. Now that is a beautiful picture of humility.