Learning from Jesus: Humble Yourself

A friend recently asked me a wonderful question: “Why do you think humility isn’t a fruit of the Spirit?” I immediately starting singing to remind myself of the list of the fruit of the Spirit (thanks, years of children’s ministry!) – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, and goodness. Lots of good stuff there, but no humility!

After thinking for a few minutes, here is what I said in response:

Humility is the gate that allows you to enter the garden where the tree of life grows which produces in you the fruit of the Spirit. When Jesus says that unless you humble yourself you cannot enter the kingdom of God, he does not mean that there is someone at the gate taking your humility temperature, he means that until you humble yourself you will not get off the throne of your life long enough to even get interested in the idea of God being king.

As I continued thinking about this great question, it occurred to me that humility is a prerequisite to receiving these other spiritual virtues. Imagine yourself in the garden near the tree of life. You see this amazing fruit, and you want to harvest it. What container will you use to hold it all? Humility is the bowl that can hold the fruit of the Spirit in your heart.

In Christian spirituality teachers have noticed that there are two basic movements in the spiritual life – subtraction and addition. Subtraction is indicated by the idea of “putting off” things that hinder spiritual growth. Addition is the process of acquiring and growing in virtue. Paul says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  (Ephesians 4:22-24)

Humility is putting off pride and self-centeredness in order that you can become attentive to God and desirous of living a life of goodness and beauty. Jesus talked a lot about humility and how it is necessary to enter the kingdom of God. If you are not willing to empty yourself how will there be any room for God and his goodness in your life?

To change the image just a little, imagine inviting God to your house. You would likely do some cleaning before he arrived, and there would be some areas of your home that are not open for entertaining. God arrives as a gracious guest and enters the areas of your home where you invite him. The presence of God, of course, fills the rooms with truth, love, and beauty. You notice that your house has never looked so good! But those rooms and closets where you keep the door firmly shut are not affected by God’s presence. This is true, not because he cannot make them beautiful, too, but because he will not force himself into your life, he only responds to invitation. It takes a lot of courage to open up the “messy” parts of your life to God. It may be because those are the rooms where you try to hide your sin, or they may just be full of junk, not sinful junk, just the clutter that accrues over the years. Either way, they will remain untouched by God’s presence until you invite him in. Once you open the doors to these areas you will see God fill the rooms with his beauty and holiness. Humility is the act of opening your life up to God so that he can live in you and transform your life.       

Paul uses the interesting image of offering our bodies to God as living sacrifices: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1) According to Fred Craddock, the problem with living sacrifices is that they keep crawling off the altar! Humility and the will to keep God’s mercy in view, will give you the power to stay on the altar.

Humility is essentially an act of trust. When you become convinced that God is God and you are not, that God is good and has your best interest at heart, that God can cleanse you and make you holy, that God not only loves you, but will teach you to love as well, then you will abdicate the throne of your heart, creating space for God to sit there and guide you. Until you do that you are just playing with religion to prop up your crumbling rule. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up.