Oh Lord, It’s Hard to be Humble…

Back in the 1980’s, singer-songwriter Mac Davis wrote a song entitled, “It’s Hard to be Humble.” It was a tongue-in-cheek look at how popularity and good looks could go to one’s head. As I survey the landscape of America today it would appear that the Biblical virtue of humility is hard to come by.  There is pride and arrogance in professional sports, entertainment, politics, business, and just about every vocation in America. We have become a me-centered culture that seeks to promote ourselves to the world. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media were designed to tell others about ourselves and what we are doing, and they contribute greatly to our culture of self promotion.

The Bible says in 1 John 1:8 that “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”  This means that we are sinful by nature. In other words, we are inclined to be self centered by our very nature. When we come into this world as babies we develop a sense of self centeredness since we need others to do everything for us.  As we grow, our parents try to teach us to do things for others, to share, and to consider the needs of others.  But this goes against our nature and often is hard to overcome. Several years ago our educational system started to focus on building self-esteem rather than knowledge.  We have been telling our children for years how important they are and how they are all winners and there are no losers.  Has this created a generation who see themselves as the center of everything?  Perhaps.

But the Bible distinctly condemns pride (Proverbs 8:13 – “I hate pride and arrogance”) and elevating ourselves above others (Matthew 20:27 – “Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant.”) Pride is also idolatry and puts ourselves above God and violates the very first commandment (Exodus 20:3 – “You shall have no other Gods before me.”) The Bible also clearly tells us what God expects of us in Micah 6:8.  He says that we should “act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.” I think many Christians get the first two conditions but the humble part often gets left out!

We also live in a culture that encourages individualism and personal effort to achieve success. So when you look at athletes and other high achievers we often see a lot of pride and arrogance. They are proud of their achievements and the success that comes from their personal efforts. So it is hard for them to be humble, and to some extent it is understandable.  But yet God’s Word clearly calls us to deny ourselves and to be humble.  We are not to give glory to ourselves but rather only give glory to the God who created us and gives us the abilities to achieve (Deuteronomy 8:18).

So how can we be humble if our nature is to be self centered? The answer is to seek the Holy Spirit.  The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 5:16, that we should “live by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” In other words, only the power of the Holy Spirit will enable us to overcome our sinful nature.  Only by turning to God and seeking His will for our lives will we be able to deny ourselves and be humble.  We cannot do it on our own.

Although humility goes against our nature and is hard at times, it is possible.  And if we turn to God and rely on the power of the Holy Spirit, He will help us to be humble.