On Humility

Now that I am out of school until the 26th of January, I finally have some time to do some reading of books for fun and spiritual growth and not just for assignment. I recently took some Christmas money and bought a few books at the local Lifeway Christian store here on campus. The first book I've decided to read is by Wayne A. Mack entitled Humility: the forgotten virtue. I know that C.J. Mahaney and Joshua Harris have also recently published a book on this topic but it was not in the bookstore, so I decided to buy this one instead. So far, it is an excellent read. In the opening chapter, Mack describes how all believers are taken into the "valley of humiliation" by God. Why? Mack gives four reasons:

1) "The fact that Scripture teaches the tremendous importance of humility implies that God highly values humility and despises pride." Pride, of course, is the root of the first sin committed in both the spritual and physical world.

2) "God takes believers into the valley of humiliation because we are so prone to pride and so adverse to humility." He adds, "We are born proud, and because of our sinful hearts, we do not naturally seek after God." If one has ever been around children, this fact is most evident. Just yesterday, a 5 year old at my afterschool program decided to put his peer's head in the toilet where he then proceded to flush the commode; a swirly if you will. He then told me "I said I was sorry," as if that fact made the act null and void. That is another discussion entirely, however, the mother's reaction was equally disturbing. When I informed her that we would have to suspend her kid from the program for a day she swore that this act was something that her kid was not capable of and wouldn't have done unless he was "provoked." Provoked or not, that does not excuse the act and I wanted to say "Well, ma'am, your kid is a little sinner like all of us are and is prone to do selfish acts as opposed to good ones." While this is the truth, that way of response is not a humble one and just shows how hard this concept is to control. Also, her response shows the false view we have of anthropology, that mankind is good and not capable of evil unless somehow learned.

3) "God allows us to undergo humbling circumstances because he wants to test and increase our faith." We indeed draw closer to God when we KNOW we have to depend on him. This in turn, decreases our false dependency of ourselves, and increases our real, true dependency on God alone.

4) "God leads us into the valley of humiliation because he wants to use the trials in our lives to produce in our lives a quality of endurance so that we may become 'perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.'" When we go through trials, we are humbled. When we are persecuted for our beliefs, which are ALL inherently contrary to worldly views, we are humbled. Humbling ourselves makes us more like Christ, which in turn glorifies Him.