Pride is your greatest enemy, humility is your greatest friend. John R.W. Stott
“In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:5-7
The opposite of humility his arrogance. It’s self-centeredness with an attitude. “I’m the center of the world!” That kind of attitude doesn’t lend itself to building good relationships with anybody. As a matter of fact, humility and love are related. The more we love people, the less arrogant we tend to be. I love the old Peanuts comics. Usually, there’s a message in the middle of the smiles. For example, one day, Linus talks to Charlie Brown. He says ‘When I get big, I’m going to be a humble little country doctor. I’ll live in the city, see, and every morning I’ll get up, climb into my sports car, and zoom into the country! Then I’ll start healing people…I’ll heal everybody for miles around!’ “I’ll be a world-famous humble little country doctor.”
People often wonder what humility means or what the definition of humility is. Humility is living with a realistic assessment of yourself. Andrew Murray gave a near-perfect definition of humility: Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and be at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking more of others. You don’t have to neglect yourself or deny yourself or your gifts. You simply spend more time thinking about others than about yourself. I’m not talking about daydreaming, but thinking about others first, yourself second. The humble person is not one who thinks meanly of himself, he simply does not think of himself at all. In the Bible, humility or humbleness is a quality of being courteously respectful of others. It is the opposite of aggressiveness, arrogance, boastfulness, and vanity. Rather than “Me first,” humility allows us to say, “No, you first, my friend.” Humility is the quality that lets us go more than halfway to meet the needs and demands of others.