Towards Humility

Near the bottom of my resume I posted a list of my virtues, the first one is humility. 

Not joking. 

Well, I guess it began as a joke to see who would notice, but it's truly there. Some of you don't get the joke... I pity you. 

Anyway, I'm on a quest to learn and actually become a person of humility. I turned to many sources but, once again, found Willard to be most helpful. 

In his book Hearing God he lays out a three step plan for humility:

1. Never Pretend

Accept who you are before fellow humans, but especially before God. Don't try to paint a picture before others to get them to think a certain way about you. Willard uses the example of people saying, "Yes, I have read that book" when they really have not. They are pretending so as to appear to be a certain way. 

2. Never Presume

This is best illustrated by Jesus' teaching on not choosing the best seat at dinner (Luke 14:8). We should never, because of our state in life, presume something should be ours. But with meekness we should seek the lowly things. This has been a minefield for me. 

 
3. Never Push

This has been like walking on a minefield with broken glass and no shoes. The idea is that we never try and overpower the will of another person(s) to get what we want. We simply say how something is and trust God. This applies in teaching, leading, parenting, and all sorts of other areas. It doesn't mean we don't tell others what to do, if we are in that position, but we do not overpower them. At first I thought this was far reaching because we have learned to use authority to get our way. That is the essence of leadership in the West. But upon reflection I noticed that Jesus never once pushed in his leadership. Yes, he rebuked, and reproved, and even told people what to do, but he never overpowered another persons will. And I think he was a pretty effective leader. 

So never pretend, never presume, never push. Do these and you will be humble... Like me.