I wonder what the most appealing personality trait is for you. What virtue do you most admire in others and perhaps wish you could cultivate a little more in yourself?
Mine has been the same for years now—and that is humility. Recently, I came across the following statement:
Find humility or it will find you.
I could not help but agree. And these words set me thinking about my quest for more of that rather elusive commodity in my own life.
I grew up feeling quite proud of certain things I could do, particularly in the academic area. That led to my looking down on others who did not do so well at school. Never mind that they left me for dead on the sporting field and in other ways. And it seems to me such thinking can lead to a kind of self-protection, where we feel safer and better about ourselves by judging others to be inferior in some way.
We often come to hate some trait in another person that we ourselves have, don’t you think? We may be unable to acknowledge or even recognise it in ourselves—but we can see it clearly in someone else. It’s for this reason, I believe, that I came to hate pride and arrogance in others. And perhaps it’s for this reason that I longed to be much more like those who had achieved great things in their lives yet seemed so humble about it all. I remember several amazing people I have met, some only fleetingly, whose humility both amazed and challenged me. And I am grateful for others who have shown me over longer periods in my life what it is truly like to walk that humble road.
But it has been through my writing journey that God has taught me the most about humility. I believe God has a great sense of humour. Not long after I started writing, I suspect I heard God say to me, in a loving but slightly rueful tone: ‘You want to be more humble, Jo-Anne? Right—then writing’s a sure fire way to reach your goal!’ There is nothing quite as daunting and confronting, I have discovered, than putting one’s creative efforts out there for all the world to see, to like or dislike, to criticise or to praise, to tear apart or to truly ‘get’ and appreciate. One of the most unnerving experiences I have ever had was to see a man whose opinion I respected reading one of my early novels. Was he enjoying it—or did he think it was rubbish? I could not tell. I looked the other way. I did not want to find out.
In 1 Peter 5:5-7, we read:
All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
I would much rather that God extend grace to me than oppose me, wouldn’t you? And that’s one reason I plan to keep going in my quest for that elusive commodity of humility until the day when God’s hand, and not my own, lifts me up.
Is humility something you long for more of in your life too—or has it found you already?
Jo-Anne Berthelsen's Blog 
I like the description of humility finding us rather than it being something we need to hunt down. Surely it’s a quality cultivated when we simply realise we don’t know everything, but we follow a God who does…
Yes, great comment–thanks for that! I think hunting down humility could well lead to some sort of self-righteousness, a bit like Uriah Heep in Dickens’ book ‘David Copperfield’ and his ‘I’m a ‘umble man, I am’ kind of statements!
I think humility is one of the most important attributes in the Christian life. I well remember the first time I saw the instructions in Scripture to “humble ourselves” under the mighty hand of God. I think I had expected God would just drop it on me, but it is a call to action on our behalf as we allow God to work in and through us. To “clothe ourselves with humility” – to put it on.
I think too that we can have a wrong concept of what humility is, at first I thought it was kind of putting yourself down. It is well worth looking at the context of James 5: 6-11- again “humble yourselves before God” This might give us some hints about what we can do. Of course once we decide we are truly humble we have lost it! Pride is usually obvious to us when we see it in someone else. Marjorie
How lovely to hear from you, Marjorie–and thank you so much for your wise comments. I love your point that we are called to act and to ‘clothe ourselves’ with humility, along with all the other things mentioned in Col 3:12. And I totally agree we can have a wrong concept of humility. Like you, I used to think it was about putting myself down and denying the gifts God had given me–until a wise pastor friend said to me once: ‘That’s not humility–that’s self-protection!’ He was right–I was really being proud because I didn’t want to risk doing things that might make me look stupid or being in situations where I might fail. Whatever our age, we still have things to learn, that’s for sure. God bless!