Excerpt taken from Gospel-Powered Humility by William P. Farley

Here is an excerpt taken from Gospel-Powered Humility by William P. Farley.

Humility and Pride defined

Humility is one of the least understood spiritual fruits. It is not self-hatred or lack of self-confidence. Humility and low self-image are not the same thing. Indeed, they are polar opposites. Increasing humility brings rest with self, with God, and with life’s circumstances. It produces real lasting joy and healthy self-image. Humility is the ability to see spiritual reality, to see things as they really are. It is the capacity to see myself in God’s light, in the context of his holiness and my sinfulness. In other words, it is the ability to see self, and this world, through God’s eyes. God empowers the humble person to increasingly see himself as he really is: “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17). The person growing in humility sees his gifts and faults, his strengths and weaknesses, with increasing clarity. Ironically, as we will see, this humility lays the sure foundation for real contentment and healthy self-image because the humble Christian also increasingly sees and feels God’s great personal love. The truly humble believer has a low view of himself, but an increasingly high view of God and his fellow man.

Pride is the opposite. It is spiritual blindness. It is a delusional, inflated view of self. It is unreality on steroids. And the scary part is this: The thing to which we are most blind is our pride. A demonic Catch-22, pride causes us to chase our spiritual tails. We cannot see pride—even though it is our most grievous, disabling sin—because its very nature is blindness, and the first thing to which it is blind is its own existence. Even though God was speaking to me about my arrogance through Isaiah 66:2 and 1 Corinthians 13:12, because pride blinded me I could not see it. dazzled by my own self-respect, I could not see my failings. Pride is a spiritual veil blinding us to the truth about ourselves and God. The proud person has a high view of self but a low view of God and his brother.

“There is no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves,” wrote C. S. Lewis. “If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.”*4

Here is the great paradox: the proud man thinks he is humble, but the humble man thinks he is proud. The humble man sees his arrogance. He sees it clearly, and as a result he aggressively pursues a life of humility, but he doesn’t think of himself as humble. The proud man is completely unaware of his pride. Of all men he is most convinced that he is humble.

Where Pride and humility take uS

Notice that Isaiah 66:2 reads, “This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” There is an important progression in this text. Humility always blossoms into something more beautiful. It is the root that feeds the other spiritual fruits. In this verse it leads to real contrition, which then deepens into trembling at God’s Word. In other words, humility sensitizes us to God’s Word, motivating and equipping us to hear God’s voice. (See below.) Humility provoked Paul to write: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). It motivated David to “rejoice with trembling” (Ps. 2:11). Humility enhances our love for God’s Word and our dependence on God’s Word. The humble joyfully tremble at God’s Word, eager to obey, seeking God’s encouragement and correction.

Humility ➞ Contrition ➞ Trembling

Pride, on the other hand, metamorphoses into something more dreadful. It is the fountainhead of evil. Instead of contrition, pride morphs into self-righteousness, and instead of trembling at God’s Word, self-righteousness terminates in despising God’s Word, or at best apathy.*5 (See below.) This can happen to well-intentioned Christians—even men like David. When Nathan confronted David about his sin with Bathsheba, the prophet accused david of “despis[ing] the word of the Lord” (2 Sam. 12:9). To God, the conviction that we are above his threats is the sin of despising him. David must have thought, I can commit adultery and get away with it. After all, I’m the man after God’s own heart. But no one “trembles” at God’s Word and disobeys God, as David did. In other words, we sin because we are proud, and God sees our pride as the sin of despising him. A proud man cannot tremble at God’s Word.

Pride ➞ Self Righteousness ➞ Despising God’s Word

Not so the humble man, the one who trembles at God’s Word. He takes God’s Word seriously. He believes its promises and threats, and he trembles. He fears God. He loves God. He needs God. He abides in the love of God. God’s Word is a heart-piercing arrow, and he loves its convicting, piercing work. He knows what he deserves, and every day he revels in the amazing grace of God that has sheltered him from the terrors of God’s justice.

Since humility ends in trembling at God’s Word, it brings us into real communion with God. It sensitizes us to God’s voice. It opens our ears to his instructions. It amplifies gratitude. It intensifies dependence. In other words, the humble see their need for God. That is why the Bible tells us:

God esteems the humble (Isa. 66:2).
He dwells with the “contrite and lowly” (Isa. 57:15).
He blesses the poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3).
He graces the humble (James 4:6).
He guides and teaches the humble (Ps. 25:9).
He regards the lowly (Ps. 138:6).

Because we are blind to our pride, it is always a problem. But there is a sense in which it is especially pernicious today. Humility has almost disappeared from our spiritual lexicon. “What has changed,” notes Cornelius Plantinga, “is that, in much of contemporary American culture, aggressive self-regard is no longer viewed with alarm. Instead people praise and promote it.”*6

Self-esteem, self-promotion, self-congratulation, and self-admiration are now celebrated as virtues. Western culture has evangelized the church. But God calls his people to be different, to separate themselves from the values of this fallen world.

So far, we have noted that humility is necessary for both intimacy with God and spiritual fruitfulness. We have defined humility. We have noted where both pride and humility take us. The remainder of this chapter will make four observations to attempt to convince you that humility matters:

First, humility is necessary for conversion.
Second, humility is necessary for sanctification.
Third, we need humility to see what God is doing.
Fourth, the gospel demonstrates humility and produces a faith that culminates in growing humility.

*4. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan, 1960), 109, 114.

*5. For further light on this statement, see 1 Sam. 2:30; 2 Chron. 36:15–16; Prov. 1:7; 13:13; 14:2; Matt. 6:24.

*6. Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 82.