November 2002
Page 1 - Becoming Unoffendable by Francis Frangipane
Page 2 - How to be Humble Without Being Proud of It by Paul Anderson
Page 3 - Masters Institute - Credit Where Credit is Due by Kathryn Calvert
Page 4 - A Tribute to Dr. Morris Vaagenes
How to be Humble Without Being Proud of It
by Paul AndersonWe know about the guy who was awarded "The Most Humble" pin, but lost it for wearing it. Humility is tricky business. I've caught myself being proud of my humility. It's like the skeleton of the body-it needs to be there to undergird everything else, but it only shows if something is broken. The skeleton is grotesque when that's all you see. So is a protruding piety.
David, a man after God's own heart, understood the struggle and wrote, "My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore" (Psalm 131). In three short verses David captures the essence of humility. He does it with a negative statement, a positive statement, and an exhortation to the people of God.
HUMILITY IS NOT AMBITIOUS
Nothing causes us to climb the ladder, to grab for more, like pride. It is exemplified most clearly in Lucifer's desire to be more important. He was so enamored with what he was that he said, "I will make myself like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:14). Just the opposite of the Son of God, who had it all and surrendered it. He "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped…" (Philippians 2:6). Humanity is infected with the devil's grasp rather than with the Savior's surrender. So David, who had plenty of reasons humanly speaking for being proud, came against it by declaring, "I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me." We all have assignments given us by God. They fit who we are, the gifts and resources we have been given. Humility is a realistic assessment of who we are. It is neither climbing higher nor going lower. Some think that humility is putting themselves down, deferring to others, being passive, not stepping forth boldly. But when we draw attention to ourselves by worm theology, it is pride with a religious face.
David starts with the heart ("My heart is not proud, O Lord"), because that is where the seeds of selfish ambition begin: "You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God" (Isaiah 14:13). Pride then moves to the eyes as we see beyond us to where we want to climb. Lucifer saw himself sitting "enthroned on the mount of assembly" (v.13). When John the Beloved speaks of "the lust of the eyes" (I John 2:16), he is referring to more than sexual temptation. Imagination sees what the heart longs for and begins to dream of it. But David comes against vain imagination at the outset by saying, "My heart is not proud." And he resists the temptation to let his eyes wander to what he could be, where he could go. Ambition is wrong when it overlooks the little things to go after the larger ones. When I once spoke to God about wanting to do bigger things more powerfully, He responded by saying, "I want you to do smaller things more faithfully."
Presumption is one of the greatest liabilities of leaders, assuming what is not or what is not to be. Because it can take control of us, David prayed, "Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me" (Psalm 19:13). Rather than asking God for what He wants to give us, presumption asserts itself, then somewhere along the journey asks for God's blessing. He becomes the servant of our vision, a role God refuses to play. We can assume that we are gifted enough, qualified enough, smart enough-and we go for our dream as recklessly as a Lucifer, not realizing that step two will be our fall.
A group from our church visited a neighboring small Presbyterian church. After the worship we gathered them in a circle and blessed them. This prophetic word came during our prayers: "You are a beautiful bouquet, bringing joy to the Father. Enjoy who you are, not who you think you ought to be." This word fit their situation, because the pastor struggled with "the day of small things." They prayed often for revival, which for them meant growth and more significance. They felt puny and unimportant, so the word was right on. The desire for significance can be God-given, but it can also be a subtle form of pride, an unwillingness to live with contentment.
I experienced this reality when I taught occasionally at a Lutheran Bible school. I noticed that the students who prayed for revival often had a difficult time seeing what God was doing in their midst, and they struggled with a complaining spirit. So I encouraged them to quit praying for revival in the future and receive all the good things that God was doing in the present. It's certainly not wrong to pray for revival, but as Graham Cooke says, "Some people would rather pray for revival than be a part of one." And another potential downside of praying for something that isn't yet is being critical of what is now.
A man in my congregation once told me that he was in the running to be elected mayor of his city. He didn't have what it took to be captain of his block, but his eyes were blinded by senseless hope. Ambition and hope for the future can be good things when they are planted within us by God to help us reach our destiny. But pretending we are something that we are not, either individually or corporately, is pride, and even King David, a man with a kingdom, a large army, and riches beyond his competitors, would not climb the slippery slope of self-centered imagining. Nehemiah was not guilty of vain imagination when he pictured the broken down wall in Jerusalem standing, because God had put it in his heart (Nehemiah 1:12). Vision begins, after all, in heaven, not on earth.
HUMILITY ACCEPTS ITS SITUATION
David pictures a young child weaned from the mother but still close to the mother. Though the mother no longer gives the child what it had cried for, it is content with the mother. Immaturity wants God's gifts without God. Peace lays claim to God's presence, even when God says "no." Finding contentment in God brings greater rest than being satisfied by what God gives. The father whose daughter slips up on his lap and asks for a quarter knows that to give the twenty-five cents means that the daughter leaves. He is not going to miss the quarter-but he's going to miss the daughter. As she matures, she learns to find more comfort in the father than what the father can do for her. It is the place that Mary found at Jesus' feet, while her older sister was in his face. Sometimes Jesus does not give us what we ask for, like he didn't give Martha, but he will always give us himself. So even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, my comfort lies in this, that "thou art with me." As David, the one anointed by Samuel, waited for Saul's rule to run its course, he learned to count on God. As he fought with the Philistines, he learned to wait on God rather than to determine his own battle plan. The young warrior discovered that God was a more skilled fighter than he was. What humility for one who as a teenager took on a lion and a bear. God is bigger and better than we are, and humility lives comfortably with that reality, not presuming to know more or do better. Misplaced ambition makes us greedy and discontent. Humility makes us secure of God. Not that there isn't a place for Christian entrepreneurs. There is, if they are listening to God and not driving people to serve their dreams.
Humility is…
a weaned child next to its mother.
a child drawing on the strength of God's presence, knowing it is a child and not God.
the willingness to follow God's initiative.
the recognition that I need God more than what God gives.
the confidence in God's presence when He says "no."
It worked for David, so he closes his little psalm by exhorting his comrades: "Put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore." Hope in the American way, or in one's own talent , or in the Church, or in human wisdom is faulty. Hope in God is secure. And humble people live with courage, contentment, and security.
