God blesses those who are humble,
for they will inherit the whole earth.
Matthew 5:5
Humility is the superpower of Christians. It is humility that is at the root of all faith, humility that leads to spiritual transformation, humility that allows God to use you. I love this quote from the Desert Father, Abba Macarius the Great in the 4th Century, “If you have humility, you are like the earth which bears everything and is trampled upon, yet it blesses and bears fruit.”
In James 4:6 it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ The word opposes means forcefully or aggressively sets himself against. This is heavy stuff. When you are living a life where you are at the centre, where you are only thinking about yourself and what you want, God opposes that. However, when you are living a humble life, prioritising others, caring for them, not pushing yourself to the front, God loves that. He gives grace to that.
Some relationships which are win-lose. I win and you lose. These can be the most abusive of relationships. The world would tell us to aim for win-win relationships. I win and you win. That sounds much better. However, they are still transactional because if I stop winning, the relationships ends. Jesus, however, modelled a different approach to our relationships: lose-win. He let go of everything to come to us and to serve us. He lost, so that we could win. The result was that he was lifted up and glorified. We are told that this is how we should love others.
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
Philippians 2:3-4
This is how Jesus lived. This thread is all the way through scripture. When you walk humbly, fearing God and loving others, you are walking in the way of Jesus.
Some final words from another ancient mystic, St Isaac the Syrian, to challenge us:
“Be persecuted, but do not persecute others. Be crucified, but do not crucify others. Be slandered, but do not slander. Rejoice with the joyful, and weep with those who weep. Such is the sign of humility.”
