12 Good Reasons to Grow in Humility
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Charles H. Spurgeon once stated, “Humility is to make a right estimation of one’s self.” Here are twelve good reasons to grow in humility.
1. Humility enables you to rejoice in and submit to your sovereign Creator.
A humble heart willingly and joyfully submits to God in all things because he is the Creator and we are his creation:
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. (Prov. 19:31)
Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. (Eccles. 5:2)
All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isa. 66:2)
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Dan. 4:35)
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:44)
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Heb. 11:3)
2. Humility enables you to respect others.
A humble heart keeps you from thinking that you are better than your neighbor and reminds you that everyone has immeasurable value, as all people are God’s image-bearers:
Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. (Rom. 13:7)
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Phil. 2:3-4)
Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (1 Pet. 2:17)
Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Pet. 5:5)
3. Humility enables you to recognize your sinfulness.
A humble heart is acutely aware of the truth that we all fall short of God’s holy standard:
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” [Isa. 6:5)
[Peter] fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8)
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 3:23-24)
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)
4. Humility enables you to forgive others.
A humble heart helps you to always be mindful of God’s forgiveness to you in Christ and your subsequent duty to forgive others who have sinned against you:
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matt. 6:12)
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. (Matt. 18:21-22)
“And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11:25)
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph. 4:32)
Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Col. 3:13)
5. Humility enables you to learn well and become wise.
A humble heart reminds you that, in order to make sound decisions and judgments and counsel others, you must listen to and receive what God wants to teach you:
He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. (Ps. 25:9)
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. (Prov. 11:2)
The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor. (Prov. 15:33)
Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. (Prov. 19:20)
6. Humility enables you to walk in God’s ways.
A humble heart is focused on doing all that is pleasing in God’s sight:
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Mic. 6:8)
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. (James 3:13)
7. Humility enables you to love and serve others.
A humble heart helps you focus on others, loving them, serving them, praying for them:
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” (Matt. 6:2)
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. (Rom. 12:10)
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant. (1 Cor. 13:4)
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Eph. 4:1-3)
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Phil. 2:3-4)
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Pet. 4:10)
8. Humility enables you to be served.
A humble heart allows others to care for us in our time of need:
“‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’” (Matt. 25:25-26)
“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” (John 13:14-16)
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. (Rom. 12:13)
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal. 6:2)
9. Humility enables you to be heard by God.
A humble heart shows that you are truly repentant before God:
Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. (2 Chron. 34:27)
For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. (Ps. 18:27)
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isa. 57:15)
10. Humility enables you to be exalted by God.
A humble heart doesn’t seek honor but rather waits for the Lord to do the exalting:
The Lord lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground. (Ps. 147:6)
One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. (Prov. 29:23)
“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:4)
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matt. 23:12; see also Luke 14:11)
“He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.” (Luke 1:52)
“But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:10-11)
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:13-14)
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Pet. 5:6-7)
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:10)
11. Humility is rewarded by God.
A humble heart waits for God’s reward in his perfect timing:
But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. (Ps. 37:11)
The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life. (Prov. 22:4)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:3)
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matt. 6:1-4)
12. Humility enables you to worship God with a full heart.
When we begin to understand the depth of our depravity and sin and recognize the wrath we justly deserve from God, we will be filled with gratitude, joy, and wonder at such a great salvation we have in Christ our Savior:
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! (Ps. 100:4)
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! (Ps. 118:28-29)
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe. (Heb. 12:28)
This article was originally published on March 12, 2020.