Christ-confidence is the basis for the healthy Christian’s walk. Sinful self-confidence is the basis for the sickly Christian’s defeat.
~Miles J. Stanford
Have I not held My peace, even for a long time, and you do not fear Me? I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, but they will not profit you. When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you! The wind will carry them all off, a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in Me shall possess the land and shall inherit My holy mountain. And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from My people’s way.” For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, Who inhabits eternity, Whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before Me, and the breath of life that I made.
~ from Isaiah 57
Oh beloved, it is true.
We are so afraid of humility. We think that it is going to crush us into something that we are not. The problem, though, is that we cannot realize who we are – unless we take proper account of who we really are.
So much of what we try to project has nothing to do with what we are. We are trying to project a reputation. We are trying to get people to see us a certain way. And, in trying to make anything like this happen, we generally fail.
Even if G_d Himself were to call out to the world, the things that we have done in our own strength, on this earth to help others, none of it would be of any use to anyone really. The passage above makes the point. Our own deeds and the positions and things we worship, will in no ways save us, serve us, or set us free.
There is though, an answer. And, it is not at all what we expect when it comes to humility.
Can we see it?
Humility does not lower us. Humility exalts us far above where we ever thought we could be. As we take refuge in Him, we pull away from the “self” within us that seeks to lift itself up and be recognized. As we look to Him, where He dwells – HE draws us into a completely new place.
In Him.
This means something totally different from what we have been trying to attain. This Triune One we come to know, when we cast off the shackles of self, is the Ancient One. He is so large that He does not even simply exist. He is the very wellspring of existence. Time is within Him. And He Himself is so much, that One of Him does not contain Him. Though He is One, He is Three. Three infinities spilling over in lavish and joyous love and strength and glory and relationship.
This means that we are drawn up and away from our self, and into this very same relationship. We are drawn up into the heavenlies, into a place that has nothing to do with reputation, but has everything to do with the character of what G_d is really like: Love, power, hope, strength, joy and everything else we have ever been looking for.
So, are you afraid that you will lose everything if you are willing to be humble? Don’t be. Actually, you may lose everything – but you will realize it was nothing in the first place. Tonight is your night, beloved. Time to let it all go, that He might lift you up beyond your wildest dreams.
Mother Teresa’s Humility Checklist
1. Speak as little as possible about yourself.
2. Keep busy with your own affairs and not those of others.
3. Avoid curiosity.
4. Do not interfere in the affairs of others.
5. Accept small irritations with good humor.
6. Do not dwell on the faults of others.
7. Accept censures even if unmerited.
8. Give in to the will of others.
9. Accept insults and injuries.
10. Accept contempt, being forgotten and disregarded.
11. Be courteous and delicate even when provoked by someone.
12. Do not seek to be admired and loved.
13. Do not protect yourself behind your own dignity.
14. Give in, in discussions, even when you are right.
15. Choose always the more difficult task.
