Humility
“Whoever makes himself great will be made humble. Whoever makes himself humble will be made great.”
Matthew 23 v 12
Humility has a central place in Christ’s teaching. It is contrasted with pride, where people ascribe to themselves the honour and glory which is God’s alone. Ultimately, pride seeks to compete with God, whereas humility acknowledges that God is God and that we should live in trusting dependence upon him. The account of the Fall in Genesis 3 when sin entered the world and man’s relationship with God was spoilt tells us that Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation to be like God. Jesus taught his followers that if they wished to enter the Kingdom of Heaven they must be like children, or on other occasion to become like servants. Throughout his teaching, Jesus uses a series of images and examples to encourage his disciples to ‘take the lower place’, or ‘to wash each other’s feet.’ The Christian doctrine of the Incarnation - the Son of God taking human flesh - is presented by Paul as the supreme act of humility in which Christ ‘emptied himself’ and took the form of a slave Philippians 2 v 5-11. The Bible teaches us not to be confident in our own righteousness and warns against pride. Instead we are to be humble and recognise that our gifts and abilities come from God. At All Saints whilst we celebrate our achievements we are mindful of the danger of seeing ourselves as better than others in any way. Philippians 2 v 3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
