Humility and Self-Knowledge are the foundation of spiritual growth. There are so many Bible verses that express this, it would be difficult to identify them all. Here are just a few:
Psalm 138:6; Proverbs 3:34; Proverbs 29:23; Matthew 23:12; Luke 1:52; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5.
Unfortunately, humility has gotten a bad rap in modern society. The image it often evokes is of a person with his or her head hung down, hands locked behind their back, slightly bent at the waist, and swinging his or her right leg from side to side. This is not humility.
Thankfully, the famous mystic and saint, Teresa of Avila, provided us with the simplest and most accurate definition of what Humility really is.
Humility, she said, is Truth. That is it; Humility is another word for Truth.
The easiest way to understand this statement is to realize that each and every one of us is, in all humility, nothing other than who God knows us to be. That is the truth.
It is not about who other people perceive or believe us to be. It is not even about who we believe ourselves to be. There is only one truth about who we are, and God alone knows it.
A little language history might help us to understand this better. Humility comes from the Latin, humus, meaning dirt, soil, earth or dust. This might sound familiar.
The Lord God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
We may have started out as dirt, but God desires to raise us from this lowly state.
True humility begins with understanding who we are before God, it is about seeing ourselves as God sees us. This is neither a good nor a bad thing; it is simply the Truth.
Many people mistakenly perceive humility as an attitude we need to adopt and then act on in some way. We are told to be humble. And though there is some benefit to this, it can also be misleading.
It is more accurate to understand humility not as an act, but as a condition we come to realize and accept about ourselves – literally the truth about ourselves.
We gain this understanding through a series of revelations about ourselves, if, and only if, we take the time to examine ourselves in light of who God created us to be. This is how we acquire self-knowledge.
Self-knowledge comes in two forms. First knowledge about God and His grandeur, and Second, knowledge about ourselves and the remarkable destiny we were each born for.
Knowledge about God reveals how magnificent God is. But it also exposes what He is prepared to do to transform us into what He created us to be, His willingness to die for us.
Knowledge about ourselves includes the reality of our fallen condition, but it also uncovers the beauty of the human soul and what remarkable greatness we have been created for.
When we take the time to prayerfully examine our lives, we will initially experience a sense of satisfaction over our efforts to become a better person. We will see in our goodwill a willingness to allow ourselves to be formed into a holy person. But we will soon discover that this admirable ambition is not the deepest truth about ourselves, at least not at first.
Humility begins when we come to accept the hard truth that we are not who we believe ourselves to be, especially in light of what God has called us to.
Be perfect just as your Heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:8)
All of us are a work in progress toward our final transformation in Christ, but we must accept our need for transformation. We are not as good as we think.
The next step in the process, once we come to discover the deeper truth about ourselves, is that we can be led to despair. We may begin to listen to all those voices around us who like to remind us just how imperfect we really are. And, no doubt, our ancient enemy loves to get involved at this stage of the process.
We will likely hear a constant refrain in our ears about how terrible we are, and how we could never hope to become the person God is calling us to be. This is also not the truth. We are not as bad as we are told.
We are never beyond redemption, forgiveness, healing and transformation. It is always good to rely on Scripture to offer us consolation in these times. No matter how bad our circumstances may become, the Lord can always find a way to bring us to perfection.
We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
And, when all else fails, we need only fall back on the simple Truth.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Let us pray for the Grace to see ourselves as God sees us, and then to allow Him to transform us into a perfect image of Himself.
Copyright © 2024, Deacon Mark Danis
Image credit: “Saint Teresa of Avila Interceding for Souls in Purgatory,” Peter Paul Rubens, Public domain, via WikiArt