Humility is tricky. It’s the one virtue in ourselves that evaporates the moment we notice it. I’m not even sure you can work on humility directly. Any progress we make immediately backfires. You can’t take pride in the humility you cultivate.
It seems to me that the people who exhibit real humility are the people who don’t know they have it. In other words, through the worship of God and the cultivation of love for others, they’ve simply forgotten about themselves. They’ve found freedom from self-occupation. They don’t think less of themselves, they simply think of themselves less.
Today, we’re going to observe humility in action as the apostle Paul arrives in Jerusalem. As a church planter and pioneering leader, he’s earned the respect of many throughout the Mediterranean. He’s a big deal and he’s used to calling the shots. But when he arrives in Jerusalem, James and the elders quickly start telling Paul what to do to pursue unity with the Jewish Christians in the region. Without hesitation, Paul receives their counsel and serves others by putting their needs ahead of his own rights. Just a few days later, in humble trust of God’s plan, we see Paul remaining steadfast under enormous pressure. That’s humility in action.
My prayer this week is for God to help us grow in humility. Paul is showing us a humility that can only come from Jesus, who laid aside His every right to serve and rescue us. We have an opportunity to learn the freedom of self-forgetfulness today. Humility is not thinking less of ourselves, it’s thinking of ourselves less. Because we are loved, more than we know.
