Humility as truth

I have long thought of humility as truth in this way. Humility is an honest assessment of who we are. On one hand, this means acknowledging that we are not God -- a realization that does not come as easily as it might seem. It also means acknowledging that although we are prized creatures of God, we have fallen into sin and are not worthy of his favor. In these ways, the humble stance is on one's knees before God.

On the other hand, humility is not making less of ourselves than we ought. By grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are partakers of God's very nature and co-laborers with him. This is heady stuff! But because our exalted status only comes by first abasing ourselves before God, we cannot become arrogant that he wishes to exalt us. "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

For help with humility, we can look at Jesus. On one hand, he only did what he saw the Father doing. On the other hand, he did not reject Thomas' worship or Peter's confession that he was the Messiah. He had an honest, truthful assessment of who he was, and that established a platform from which he could live out his mission.

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