The fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, can only grow out of a humble heart that is entirely dependent upon God.
When pride comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom (Proverbs 11:2, BSB).
Pride rears its ugly head when we refuse to accept our creatureliness; refuse to admit that we are limited, frail, fallen and dependent on God for our very breath. Pride does whatever it takes to preserve self and makes ourselves the sole source of our identity.
The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life (Proverbs 22:4, ESV).
But what is humility? What it is not, is self-condemnation, self-abhorrence or self-deprivation which is simply occupation with self. Humility is a disposition that comes from having a revelation of God. A revelation of God’s law condemning sin but a revelation of His grace delivering us from it. This is what makes us humble.
Humility is having a realistic estimation of ourselves compared to an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise, righteous and sovereign God.
This is what it means to have a healthy fear of the Lord. It’s also knowing who Christ is, what He gave up for us, and all that He did for us.
Wherever you see the word humility it is associated with:
Listening
Learning
Living
Listening
He whose ear listens to the life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself, but he who listens to reproof acquires understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom, and before honor comes humility (Proverbs 15:31-33, NASB).
To put it simply, listening to instruction requires humility. It’s not just listening to someone or something about a subject but has to do with your attitude about what you are hearing.
In this passage, the word “listen” means to come under, to yield with the intent of obeying what you’ve heard. The wisdom of humility recognizes that you do not have all the answers and you do not have everything figured out. Listening to instruction with the intent to obey it is humility.
“Why does listening require humility?”
Because by nature, we are prideful and do not like to submit to other people’s, let alone God’s counsel.
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice (Proverbs 12:15, ESV).
A wise person is humble enough to know they are not perfect, don’t have all-knowledge and, therefore, they are not always right. The humble person appreciates the truth no matter who it comes from. They are open to hearing what others have to say, open to other points of view, to words of instruction, advice, and correction.
Listening means taking the truth to heart, no matter how much it may hurt.
It takes humility to listen to and consider what is said, to ponder it and let it change your mind. If it concerns a sin, a fault, failure, blind spot or misunderstanding, be humble enough to listen to others and change your ways if necessary, in order to be in right relationship to God and others around you.
The way of humility is to recognize that no matter how old you are, how successful or talented, no matter how many degrees you may have, how long you have been a Christian or been in the church - you still have a lot to learn.
Learning
Throughout Proverbs, the way of humility is always associated with learning even if some of the lessons we learn from God are very challenging. Life has a way of humbling us. In those times we need to listen to and accept advice as well as correction.
Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance (Proverbs 1:5).
Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning (Proverbs 9:9).
My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent His rebuke; (Proverbs 3:11)
Humble people have not just learned lessons in life, they have made the decision to be lifelong learners.
People stop maturing in Christ because at some point, they stopped listening to the Word and no longer have a heart for learning from God and others. They stopped fellowshipping with fervent believers who sharpen them. And when they stopped listening and learning, for whatever reason they may find to justify it, they stopped growing.
But what they don’t realize is that
“when you stop growing you start dying. ”
Humility recognizes that the only way to truly live is to be delivered from pride through surrender to God in utter dependence on Him.
Living
By listening and learning in humility, we begin to live. And God provided us with the perfect example of humility - Christ Himself.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name (Philippians 2:5-9, NIV).
The amplified version says,
Have this same attitude in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus [look to Him as your example in selfless humility];
Humility is found in the person of Jesus Christ, who co-created the universe and existed in the form and unchanging essence of God, One with Him.
Though Jesus possessed the entire nature of deity, with attributes such as omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, He willingly took on the form not just of a human being but of a lowly servant.
This second Person of the Trinity humbled himself, not once but repeatedly, in an ever-descending sequence: From heaven to earth, from God to man: from man to slave: from obedient slave to death on a cross, to deliver us from death and eternal separation from God because He loved us so much.
The wisdom of humility is God becoming a man to save us, to set us free. And He didn’t just save and redeem us, He came to be the Servant of all.
If you used the freedom Christ purchased for you to willingly serve Him and others and become a vital member of the body of Christ? It would transform your life and your relationships. This is the way of humility.
Who among you is wise and intelligent? Let him by his good conduct show his [good] deeds with the gentleness and humility of true wisdom (James 3:13, AMP).
When we humble ourselves before the Almighty God, He gives us the power that enables us to be humble with others.
When I come before God in admission of my absolute need for Him, He meets me there. And as one man of God said, when we humble ourselves... just as water always seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds a person abased and empty, His glory and power flow in to exalt and to bless. While God opposes the proud, He is personally and providentially supportive of the humble.
For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones (Isaiah 57:15, NKJV).
All that the Lord God extends to the humble, to those who listen to Him, learn from Him and live for Him by honoring Him is indescribably rich and full of life. This is the way of humility; this is the reward of humility and the fear of the Lord.
“If I Listen - I’ll Learn,
If I Learn - I’ll Live. ”
