“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” — James 4:10

What is God teaching me this summer? To be concise, humility. Humility in relationships. Humility at home. Humility at work. Humility like Jesus. Humility as a lifestyle. Humility is not something you wake up one morning and decide that today will be the day that I become humble. Humility is cultivated within the rich soil of a heart that is seeking to know Jesus and make Him known.

Humility is often mistaken for weakness. In our culture, humility is not promoted or encouraged. In fact, quite the opposite. Through social media, we find ourselves in constant competition to put ourselves out there, to be “liked,” to be “followed,” to be celebrated, to be adored even. If we are not trying to get ahead, then we will fall behind. But have you ever paused to consider what we are gaining or losing? Who are we trying to beat and why? Who is ahead of us and how? Most importantly, what does any of this matter in eternity?

What would happen if we started caring more about what God thinks of us than what others think of us? How would this change our approach to daily living? Humility is an attitude shift. It has been said that humility is thinking of ourselves less, rather than thinking less of ourselves. I posit that it’s a bit deeper than that. Humility is the recognition and acknowledgement of who we are as we relate to almighty God and our Creator. When I begin to see myself in the scope of who God is and what His plans are, I begin to position myself in such a way that my choices begin to align with His will.

To better understand humility, let’s consider what is the antonym of humility: pride. Now there is a word we understand and can plainly see in the lives of others, yet it can be challenging to recognize it within ourselves. James says, “What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:1-3). Pride. Pride creates fights and divisions. Pride declares I deserve this or that and then grows bitter when the object of our desire is not received. Pride says it’s all about me. Pride says repeatedly, “Me! Me! Me! Me first! Me always! Only Me!”

Sometimes, our propensity towards pride can be more subtle as it creeps into our hearts. While we may not be creating a stir that demands people take notice of us, pride can also grow in the secret places when we begin to take credit for what God has done in our lives. Pride can desire attention and recognition for good things, for Godly things. Proverbs 16:18 tells us, “Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.” I have heard many Bible teachers say we as Christians have two options when it comes to humility. We can choose to humble ourselves before God, or He will humble us. Either way, God’s children will find a way to humility. One path is more easily traveled than the other.

We mistakenly think that if we are humble then that allows others to walk all over us. This may happen, at times, sure, but in humility grows quiet confidence. Humility is not the equivalent of not having self-confidence. When we are humble, our confidence in who we are in Christ strengthens, and our faith in Him grows. We can withstand the darts or arrows hurled at us by others and the enemy of our souls because our strength and shield are found in Christ. Humility does not demand others recognize when we are right. Humility trusts that God sees the situation and knows the truth.

Our ultimate example of humility is found in the person of Jesus Christ Himself. Out of every human who ever lived and who will ever live, Jesus is the only person who was or ever will be perfect. He was without sin. He did not lash out when He was reviled, beaten, mocked, rejected, humiliated, despised, or crucified. He set aside His rights as God in heaven to humble Himself to condescend to earth to take on all of our sins, while remaining sinless, and paying the price that our sins deserve: death. Jesus was the only one who had the right to be full of Himself, yet He emptied Himself for us.

When I am tempted to be puffed up in pride, I need to remember Jesus. Jesus who led by example in how He treated others, how He loved, how He forgave, how He healed, how He put others first, how He died, how He knelt to wash the filthy feet of His followers, how He agonized over the cost of our sins yet willingly went to the cross. Humility says only God deserves exaltation. Humility recognizes that I am utterly dependent on God for my physical needs, emotional needs, and spiritual needs. Humility chooses to remain silent when accusing words comes my way. Humility gets out of bed day after day serving others when it feels like only God sees. Humility says my reward is in heaven. Humility remembers Jesus and places Him at the center. Humility transforms my whole life, from the inside out. Humility says I can’t but God can. Humility says I don’t understand but I trust the God who has a plan. Humility bows low before Jesus, and believes that at His exactly right time, I will be lifted up. Humility is a day by day surrender. The fruit of humility is without end. The reward of humility is eternal. Humility opens the hand and releases it all onto the shoulders of Jesus, trusting His way is perfect even when it is painful. Humility says, you first. Humility is confidence in who Jesus says I am.

The path to humility is to be a follower of Jesus and imitate Him and His lifestyle. Study Jesus. Relearn who He is and how He lived. Jesus is everything. He satisfies every need and desire. He fills up our cups with the abundance of Himself. He changes everything. Jesus is the only way this world and this life makes sense. My soul finds within it this zealousness and longing to pour out my life in ways that will have eternal impact. My greatest fear is that I will have missed Jesus’ purpose for my life, that I will have wasted my life. Some days, pride says isn’t there more to life than this? Pride whispers thoughts of discontentment that suggest I deserve this or that. Yet Jesus squashes that and says He came to give me life in abundance. Humility doesn’t demand, it defers. Humility is not weakness. Humility is power under control. Humility utilizes restraint.

At the end of the day, humility recognizes that I am fully dependent on God. Humility grows as I daily depend on God to meet my needs rather than myself. I won’t just wake up one day and be humble. No, it is a daily ongoing process of becoming more like Jesus and surrendering the self life over to Him. Chances are that I won’t even realize I have grown more humble because I will have stopped looking at myself and my gaze will be fixed on Jesus.