"The humble man feels no jealousy or envy. He can praise God when others are preferred and blessed before him. He can bear to hear others praised while he is forgotten…," Andrew Murray.

Humility.  That simple word conjures up so many different thoughts and emotions.  It almost seems a contradiction of itself because any thought of humility really shows us that we are not humble – and yet the attitude of humility is central to our Christian walk.  We are to have deference to others (1 Cor. 12:25), to love one another (John 13:34) and to take care of one another (Matt. 25:34-40).  What is interesting to me in analyzing those instructions is that we cannot truly practice humility to others without serving them.  This observation is born out in considering human nature – when we serve others we begin to care for them, conversely when we expect service from others we begin to care less for others (except as they will take care of our needs).

Another interesting thing about humility is that as we practice being humble we begin to see more and more how lacking we are in being humble.  Even the Apostle Paul understood this as he wrote: I am the least of the apostles (1 Cor. 15:9); I am the very least of all the saints (Eph. 3:8); and, I am the foremost of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15).  How could we ever measure up to God’s standard of humility if someone like Paul fell short?  The answer is that our humility before God and fellow man is to never be judged or measured in comparison to someone else (2 Cor. 10:12).  Our only standard is the standard that Christ set as an example for us – "…even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many," (Matt. 20:28).

God seeks humility in us because it is critical in our development in reflecting His character.  We must seek to serve fellow man as Christ did, without selfish motives, desires to be recognized or to achieve position.  That’s a tall order to fill isn’t it?  It would be on our own, but it is not as we live with Christ in us.  Let’s always keep in mind what the prophet Isaiah was inspired to write in Isaiah 66:2, "But to this one I will look, to the afflicted and contrite spirit, and the one who trembles at My Word."