Perspective: Hallmarks of the Humble

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Hallmarks of the Humble

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

James 4:10 (CEB)

Father, break my heart for what breaks Yours

Give me open hands and open doors

Put Your light in my eyes and let me see

That my own little world is not about me

From "My Own Little World" by Matthew West

My personal Bible study for the past week, the first week of the year, took me through part of the Epistle of St. James, a letter written by one of Jesus' brothers to some of the early Christians.  A recurring theme I noticed was humility.  At one point, James reminds his readers that "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."¹  He goes on to encourage his readers to humble themselves so that God will build them up.²

Humility is a quality that is elusive and often misunderstood.  It is not, as some might think, the same as self-deprecation or low self-esteem.  It has been suggested that humility is not thinking less of oneself but thinking of oneself less.³  C.S. Lewis suggests that humility is actually a kind of self-forgetfulness.  Lewis also suggests that the moment one notices that one is being humble and starts to congratulate oneself for it, one ceases to be humble.⁴  In other words, humility is not a quality one can claim for oneself.

St. James, in his letter, helps us to see a number of hallmarks or qualities of humble people.


Humble people are peaceable.

James urges his readers to examine what guides their actions, warning them that, if they are guided by such "earthly, unspiritual, devilish" things as "bitter envy" and "selfish ambition," they will create "disorder and wickedness of every kind."⁵  He points out that people who are driven solely by their desires will resort to conflict and even violence to get what they want.⁶  N.T. Wright connects such a disposition to arrogance, the opposite of humility, "that says that my desires come first, that my cause is so important it's worth fighting and killing for."⁷

Humble people, on the other hand, are peaceable, for their actions are not guided solely by their desires, but are guided by a certain wisdom which James describes as "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy."⁸


Humble people are not judgmental.

James encourages his readers to live according to what he calls the Royal Law, the commandment given to us by Jesus, our King, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.⁹  He goes on to warns us that, when we speak evil of other people, we are placing ourselves above the Royal Law and setting ourselves up as judge over them.  "There is one lawgiver and judge," James says, referring to God.¹⁰  When we take it upon ourselves to do a job meant solely for God, we are essentially declaring that we are God.  This is the height of arrogance.

Humble people don't judge other people, because they view others as equals and try to treat others as they want to be treated.

I should note that holding someone accountable is not the same as judging.  Judging is a form of condescension, for it happens between a person and someone he or she has deemed inferior.  Accountability, on the other hand, takes place between equals, so it does not violate the Royal Law.  We should be willing to hold other people accountable, and we should also want others to hold us accountable.


Humble people are flexible.

James encourages his readers not to talk about what they will do in the future but to instead talk about what they will do if God wills it.¹¹  People are not always in agreement regarding what God's will is, whether it is something that happens or something we should strive to do, but either point of view can be helpful in this case.  Humble people are flexible in regards to their plans because they realize that they are not God.  They understand that they are subject to forces beyond their control.  They also realize that the purpose of life is not to serve oneself and that their own desires are not necessarily the same as God's.


So what steps can we take to humble ourselves before God, as James urges us to do?  Some clues, I think, lie in the aforementioned qualities of humble people.  First, we can remember that life is not all about getting what we want.  Second, we can remember that we are in no place to judge anyone since we are no better than anyone else.  Third, we can remember that we are not masters of the universe.  Perhaps, if we keep these things in mind, we will become more peaceable, charitable, flexible, and humble.


Notes:

1. James 4:6 (NRSV)
2. James 4:10
3. Such a quote is commonly misattributed to C.S. Lewis.  A more likely origin is the book A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. (2002, Zondervan.)
4. C.S. Lewis.  The Screwtape Letters.  ch. 14
5. James 3:13-16 (NRSV)
6. James 4:1-3
7. N.T. Wright.  The Early Christian Letters for Everyone.  2011, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 28
8. James 3:17-18 (NRSV)
9. James 2:8
10. James 4:11-12 (NRSV)
11. James 4:13-16

Jesus Washing Peter's Feet was painted by Ford Madox Brown in the 1850s.