Where’s Humility? Have You Seen Him Uh?

I love John Dickson. He is a confident, gifted and inspiring individual but he has a problem. He struggles with humility. Sounds judgementally cruel eh? Not really. John told over 5000 men recently, at some public conventions, that he really struggles with demonstrating humility in his life.

He wasn’t joking, he was deadly serious. His public admission, sincerely and bravely expressed, struck a chord with many of us … because we too, really struggle to be ‘humble’. Many of us however, unlike John Dickson, keep it a secret.

The problem with that, of course, is that this ‘deficiency’ is blatantly obvious to those who are close to us; those who know us so well. Many of our friends (secretly) yearn for us to be more ‘humble’. And I suspect, in part, that is what John Dickson was getting at when he delivered a very powerful exposition of Philippians 2:3-11:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

So before John Dickson began to expound these wonderful verses on the role of humility of in the life of Jesus, he needed to confess the lack of it in his own life. As I have said above, it was a gutsy call - dare I say it, a humble call?

What is ‘humility’?

If I may venture a definition it is as follows: The inner, genuine attitude we have that clearly defines who we really are before God. The comparison is breathtaking. He is God, I am not. He is awesome – to be reverently feared. I am, who I am, only because of Jesus. I am extremely flawed (because of sin – love of self); but I am loved to serve Him and others. Indeed, I am to love others; no matter what their social position (nor mine for that matter).

Humility is the ability to see ourselves as we really are - more how we actually think God sees us than our best friends.

Some of us have found ourselves in positions of honour and privilege in our society. Because of this we have developed conscious, and unconscious, barriers to some people and therefore, to service. It may be based on race, work status, the area where we live and/or our perceived pecking order in a class-based-culture.

Put frankly, some of us - as Christians - are snobs. We think we are better than the battlers and the disadvantaged in our society. We actually look down on some people.

To break out of these ‘high’ positions (they are our perceptions, not God's) we need to ‘come down’ – out of our ivory towers to serve, to accept and to love.

This is exactly what Jesus did – but with one huge difference: Jesus had a genuine high position of status that was real. Paul tells us that Jesus, being God, did something very radical. Get this: "but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness."

Do you see the picture of humility given to us?

It's a coming ‘down from a great height’ to love and to serve. Humility shuns pride, selfishness, boasting and selfish ambition. Humility leads with an attitude that cries out to those we serve: “I don’t see myself as superior to you, you are my equal before our Heavenly Father. Can I help you? Can we chat?”

This blog is written by someone who shares John Dickson’s struggle. However, I don’t beat myself up for my lack of humility. I’m aware of it (it will be a lifelong issue) and I look to Jesus (not Law) who is my beautiful example of practical humility.

Why?

Because Paul tells us to consider Jesus' attitude.

Will you consider His attitude too?

(John Dickson’s public address on the passage above can be downloaded HERE for $1.98).