humility

Extracted from John Piper's blog in preparation for a single guys meeting:

1. Humility begins with a sense of subordination to God in Christ. "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master" (Matthew 10:24). "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God" (1 Peter 5:6).

2. Humility does not feel a right to better treatment than Jesus got. "If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!" (Matthew 10:25). Therefore humility does not return evil for evil. It is not life based on its perceived rights. "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. . . . While suffering, He uttered no threats, but handed [his cause] over to Him who judges righteously" (1 Peter 2:21-23).

3. Humility asserts truth not to bolster ego with control or with triumphs in debate, but as service to Christ and love to the adversary. "Love rejoices in the truth" (1 Corinthians 13:6). "What I [Jesus] tell you in the darkness, speak in the light. . . . Do not fear" (Matthew 10:27-28). "We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Corinthians 4:5).

4. Humility knows it is dependent on grace for all knowing and believing. "What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" (1 Corinthians 4:7). "In humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21).
5. Humility knows it is fallible, and so considers criticism and learns from it; but also knows that God has made provision for human conviction and that he calls us to persuade others. "We see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). "A wise man is he who listens to counsel" (Proverbs 12:15). "Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Corinthians 5:11).

For a man, it is always a challenge to live a humbled life but it is a necessary quality to have to be the man that God wants me to be.