Another quality God wants to see in our lives is humility. Being humble makes me more like Jesus, and that is who I should become.
Humility is an important virtue in a Christian’s life. Placing the interests of others above your own requires humility, love and harmony. The opposite of humility is pride. It is when you think you are better than others and always want your own way. When someone lives out biblical humility, he or she has received God’s unconditional love. Others then become more important than self.
Jesus is our example of humility. He could have entered the world on a white horse, with a great entourage and fanfare. Instead, He comes to us as a baby born in a stable to poor parents. A donkey is the animal on which He enters Jerusalem. That is humility! (See Matthew 1 and 2.) Near the end of Jesus’ time on earth, He wanted to emphasise the importance of humility to His disciples. He did this in a remarkable way in John 13:1-17, when He washed His disciples’ feet. Then comes His instruction to you and me: we must go and do the same, living it out toward others. Put on your apron and go wash dirty feet.
Paul also uses Jesus as his role model when he writes to the Philippians and instructs them to practise humility. In Philippians 2:3, Paul says: “Do nothing out of selfishness or in order to boast. Instead, be humble by thinking more highly of fellow believers than of yourself.”
Choose always to place others above yourself!
Written by Hendrik Nel