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The Secret of Humility

Matthew 18:4

Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Psalm 131: 1 – 2

Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don't concern myself with matters too great or awesome for me.  But I have stilled and quieted myself, just as a small child is quiet with its mother. Yes, like a small child is my soul within me.

Let us first dispense with the notion that humility has anything to do with how small and insignificant you might think you are.  Everyone is small and insignificant in light of God’s majesty … no one is particularly special when we consider that.  Furthermore, Jesus Christ Himself declared that the smallest and most helpless of us (children) are “the greatest” in His eyes. 

What then is humility?  Good question … I’m glad that you asked.

hu·mil·i·ty (hyū-mĭl'ĭ-tē)

The children whom Jesus praised and declared as object lessons in humility were seeking the “limelight”, so to speak.  The difference between them and us is that they did not want to BE the center; rather, they wanted to get NEAR the center.  The “limelight” that they sought was the very Light of Life (John 1)!  Those same children did one simple thing in the light of God’s glory … they rested and they admired.

Sometimes we confuse the behavior of children with selfish attention-seeking.  It is correct that they are seeking attention; it’s just that they want the attention that comes with love and approval.  The heart of a child says, “Daddy … did you see me?”  When was the last time that you approached your Heavenly Father with that heart?  If you are like most of us, then it was a very long time ago.  It is never too late to get up in Daddy’s lap and say to Him, “Daddy … did you see me?”  You know the answer that He’ll give you and you can rest in the promise that He “rejoices over His children with song”.  The answer that the Lord will give you is going to be His song over you … a song of joy.

Consider the words of the Psalmist as given above.  A proud heart seeks its own selfish needs and tends to be overly self-impressed.  A proud mind fails to recognize that nearly everything in life is a matter that is “too great or awesome for me”.  Much of our suffering is self-inflicted because we DO NOT rest in God’s arms!  Most of our failure in the Kingdom of God is because we DID NOT follow the lead of our Lord Jesus Christ who “learned everything from the Father”.

If we’ll just take a moment to rest in Daddy’s arms we will very quickly see one very awesome thing … our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ practicing the perfect humility that put our need for salvation over His own power and glory.

Think about it…