AFTER Sadhu Sundar Singh had completed
a tour around the world, people asked him, "Doesn't it do
harm, your getting so much honour?" The Sadhu answered, "No.
The donkey went into Jerusalem, and they put garments on the ground
before him. He was not proud. He knew it was not done to honour
him, but for Jesus, who was sitting on his back. When people honour
me, I know it is not me, but the Lord, who does the job."
Humility is an essential part of the Christian life as Richard
Baxter and Jonathan Edwards have reminded us. Baxter pointed out
that it is not possible to be a true Christian and not be humble.
This makes sense when we search the Bible, for we are often urged
to humble ourselves before God (Jam. 4:10; 1 Pet. 5:6). When we
do so, God saves (Ps. 149:4) and guides (Ps. 25:9) us. Without
humility, we remain as strangers to the salvation experience.
We cannot enter into God's presence without humility.
However, humility is not easily cultivated. Pride tends to stubbornly
remain in the human heart. A preacher was once convicted of his
lack of humility. A friend suggested that he march through the
city's streets wearing a sandwich board, shouting the Bible verses
on the board for everyone to hear. The preacher did so, but when
he returned to his study and removed the board, he said "I'll
bet there's not another man in town who would do that!"
Pride is at the root of human sinfulness, and seems to be welded
tightly into the architecture of fallen human nature. This pride
is expressed through what some psychologists and spiritual writers
have called the "false self". The original shame, felt
by our foreparents Adam and Eve, continues to echo relentlessly
in the deep recesses of our empty souls.
And to escape from the torment, the deceitful human heart has
manufactured the false self, built with the things valued by this
world, such as wealth, human intellect, fame, power and possessions.
The empty soul faces the world and manages life by living behind
this mask and by continuously feeding it with what the apostle
Paul has called "rubbish" (Phil. 3:8).
To manage our own self-judgement, we often invert this mask of
the false self inwards to satisfy ourselves that we are all right.
We become victims of our own self-deception. And in this way,
pride flows through our veins and infects all of life. There is
no cure for this until we approach God.
When we face holy God, we cannot
but come in humility, for humility is the soil in which repentance
and prayer grow, and these are necessary if we are to begin a
new life with God (2 Chr. 7:14). When we see the glory and holiness
of God, we will join the prophet Isaiah in confessing. "Woe
is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips." (Is. 6:5). Our
masks will fall, and false selves crumble in the presence of God.
But that is for our own healing and good, for we no longer need
to live with pride poisoning our souls and society. We would have
found a better way - the way of humility.
HUMILITY is like new blood in our spiritual veins. We must remember
that Jesus Christ is described as humble (Mt. 11:29). He "made
himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the
likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
(Phil. 2:7-8). For our sake, He suffered the humiliation (Acts
8:33) of being condemned as a criminal, the indignity of becoming
an object of public ridicule, and the shame of crucifixion. All
that to save us from our own sin and pride.
When we identify ourselves with Jesus and commune with Him, then
His humility begins to flow in our blood. It is clear that such
humility cannot be taught or bought. It is given to us by God's
grace. Neither is it achieved in an instant, for as Francois Fenelon
(17th century) said, "Humility is not a grace that can be
acquired in a few months: it is the work of a lifetime."
Humility grows in us as we spend time in the presence of God.
Pride is so strongly welded with our souls that it is not easy
to remove. Even in religion, it is easy to think that we are humble
simply because of our piety and good works. But we can pray and
do good with pride rather than humility if we have not really
faced God in truth. It is easy to clothe ourselves with false
humility, where in fact the false self has simply put on religious
clothes and gone through the motions of a conversion. But the
false self cannot be converted; it has to be denied and crucified
on the cross, so that the redeemed true self can live its new
life in Christ. Humility is a clear sign that this has happened,
that the purifying fire of God has touched our souls.
"They that know God will be humble," John Flavel has
said, "and they that know themselves cannot be proud."
Flavel is right, for, as we have seen, humility is born when we
face God and our true selves.
When we practise the discipline of finding ourselves regularly
before the Divine Throne and the Mirror of Truth, then we allow
God to remove our pride and give us new and growing humility.
And when God sees Christ's humility in our hearts, He is pleased.
He delights in those who are humble. For God has said, "This
is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit,
and trembles at my word." (Is. 66:2).
The advice of St Augustine is useful: "If you plan to build
a high house of virtues, you must first lay deep foundations of
humility." Such foundations can only be found near the Throne
of God, in the rich soil in front of the Throne, made rich by
the tears of a forgiving God and humble repentant sinners.
QUOTE:
ROOT OF SINFULNESS
'Pride is so strongly welded with our souls that it is not
easy to remove. Even in religion, it is easy to think that we
are humble simply because of our piety and good works.'