Every day on the avenues of life, in the classrooms, universities, government, other workplaces, and places of leisure, where there are people, there is pride. Pride is basing one’s dignity, self-worth, or position on ethnicity, heritage, possessions, accomplishments, or associations. Arrogance is a feeling of superiority above others because of pride.
Pride and arrogance represent a downstream disorder from an upstream broken relationship with God and Jesus Christ. It is a root sin disorder that leads to countless other sins. It is ingrained in the hearts of every man and woman at birth. A young child’s first words are on “self” and emphatically possessive: “I”, “me,” “mine,” “mine,” or “myself.” It was pride that led to Satan being cast from heaven in enmity with God (see Isaiah 14:12-15). It was pride that Satan used to tempt our original ancestors, and he and his minions continue to use pride to sidetrack many today. Forgetting that every human is an image-bearer of God, it is pride that leads to racism, disunity, disharmony, contention, strife, and hatred. Make no mistake, pride in the hearts of men and women is offensive to God, and until dealt with, it arrests spiritual growth through the Holy Spirit. An inflated love and infatuation with oneself crowd out any chance a person can grow in their love for God and others.
Humility is having an appropriate effacement of “self,” not thinking highly of oneself, viewing others as having equal value as co-image bearers of the Creator. South African pastor and revivalist Andrew Murray in Humility, The Beauty of Holiness (full reference under Humility in Additional Resources of Information on Resources page), frames the spiritual definition of humility in someone: “acknowledging the truth of [our] position as the creature, and yielding to God His rightful place…humility and nothingness which leaves God free to be all.”
Humility is not proclaimed or modeled well in the organized church of today. Many have forgotten that, as Murray proclaims, “meekness and lowliness of heart are supposed to be the distinguishing features of the disciple as they were of the Master.” A characteristic of counterfeit holiness, according to Murray, is the absence of humility.
Humility is a first-fruit of spiritual maturity, and is necessary to be prolific fruit-bearers. However, pride is ingrained in our hearts, subtle and deceptive, and hard to overcome. God has given us the power to do so, and we must strive through His Spirit, being in His Word, prayer, and accountability to others to do so. Overcoming pride and putting on humility is to “walk in the manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called (Ephesians 4:1-3; also see Colossians 3:12, 1 Peter 5:5).
Murray leaves none of us with an excuse.
“Humility towards [others] will be the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real. It will be the only proof that our humility has taken up its residence in us, and become our very nature, the only proof that we, like Christ, have made ourselves of no reputation.”
Got humility?