Humility is to live our lives in such a way that our self-image does not stand in our way of serving others and God. Our motto should be “strong and quality inside, humble outside”. Christians need to be people with a soft-crust: approachable, loving and lovable.
In Ephesians 4:2, the Bible exhorts those who believe in Christ to live a life worthy their calling. Those who believe in Christ are not just mere believers, but they are children of God and thus belong to the household of God. The call is thus to live lives in a manner fitting the values and ethos of the family of God.
One of the shared values in the family of God where every believer in Christ is a member is “humility”. In Ephesians 4:2, Apostle Paul wrote: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
The word translated as “being humble” means, “having a humble opinion of one's self”. It is not having self-pity or having a low self-estimate. Rather it is having a proper self-estimate but not using it to impress or manipulate others. In other words, it is the ability not to use our strengths for our own advantage, and not to stand in the way of others. Not to appear too great before others in order to intimidate him.
William Temple puts it this way: "Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all."
There is this story of a college student who got down at a small railway station and was looking for a railway porter to carry his small briefcase to the hostel where he lived. He could not find anyone. However, an elderly fellow passenger offers to carry his luggage for him. This modestly dressed older man carried his luggage to the college hostel. The same evening the student discovered to his surprise that the man who carried his luggage to the college hostel is the famous scholar invited for the special lecture.
Humility is to live our lives in such a way that our self-image does not stand in our way of serving others and God. Our motto should be “strong and quality inside, humble outside”. Christians need to be people with a soft-crust: approachable, loving and lovable.
In Ephesians 4:2, the Bible exhorts those who believe in Christ to live a life worthy their calling. Those who believe in Christ are not just mere believers, but they are children of God and thus belong to the household of God. The call is thus to live lives in a manner fitting the values and ethos of the family of God.
One of the shared values in the family of God where every believer in Christ is a member is “humility”. In Ephesians 4:2, Apostle Paul wrote: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
The word translated as “being humble” means, “having a humble opinion of one's self”. It is not having self-pity or having a low self-estimate. Rather it is having a proper self-estimate but not using it to impress or manipulate others. In other words, it is the ability not to use our strengths for our own advantage, and not to stand in the way of others. Not to appear too great before others in order to intimidate him.
William Temple puts it this way: "Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all."
There is this story of a college student who got down at a small railway station and was looking for a railway porter to carry his small briefcase to the hostel where he lived. He could not find anyone. However, an elderly fellow passenger offers to carry his luggage for him. This modestly dressed older man carried his luggage to the college hostel. The same evening the student discovered to his surprise that the man who carried his luggage to the college hostel is the famous scholar invited for the special lecture.
Humility is to live our lives in such a way that our self-image does not stand in our way of serving others and God. Our motto should be “strong and quality inside, humble outside”. Christians need to be people with a soft-crust: approachable, loving and lovable.