Humility

Quote from C.S. Lewis

Humility is one of the most misunderstood virtues in the Christian arsenal. When we speak of a person who does not come from money we say, "He is a person that came from humble beginnings." By that, we mean the person did not have the opulence that some people had when they were young.  We call an unpretentious home a humble dwelling. We call a person without much money a person of humble means.  It would seem that we consider humble to be a synonym for the word poor.  Our common definition of the word seems to make being humble akin to being unfortunate. I do not think anything could be further from the truth. 

Humility for a Christian is acting upon the knowledge that we depend on God for everything. Everything we have in this life is a gift to us from God.  But, I hear you say, "I worked hard for (insert name of possession.)  True, but the very work you did was a gift from God.  

Humility is also the knowledge that everything we have is ours on a temporary basis. Everything you have will someday belong to another person.  Perhaps the knowledge that you cannot take it with you is the thing we need to remember to foster humility in our lives.

To be humble does not mean that we should forever turn down compliments. Humility is to accept and to thank the person that is complimenting you for your extra effort. Humility is to accept help when help is needed.  All of us, someday, will be in a position where we will need someone to help us do things we formerly could do on our own.  Pride will tell us to resist. Humility will allow us for someone to help us. 

Finally, humility is the realization that what we are is what we are in God's eyes, not how our friends and enemies view us.  We are exactly as God sees us and nothing more or nothing less.