Posts Tagged: humility
“Everyone Above Average?”
“Eccl. 4:4 ¶ Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.”
“. . . “where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average” (Garrison Keillor’s tagline for his Lake Wobegone “news” monologs).
My wife and I like to do online trivia quizzes. Well, “like” may be a bit of exaggeration. We like doing the quizzes when they don’t ask questions that are too hard. (Come on now! Who knows or cares who Warren G. Harding’s secretary of defense was?)
And then, there is the matter of the scores we get on these quizzes. We usually get somewhere in the 70% range. If we only get 50%, we are not happy. And if we get below 50%? You don’t want to be around us at those moments!
I was listening to an episode of “Hidden Brain” that deals with the science of humility the other day. The guest on the program was a teacher who frequently asked his students to rate themselves in terms of their humility. Were they humbler than most folks? Almost always, they were more humble than 70% of the general population.
Can anyone say, “blind spot!”?
Perhaps the problem isn’t where we are on the scale of humility or any other scale. Maybe the problem is that we have these scales at all. We all know different things. Some of them are trivial. Some of them are important. Perhaps the world would be a better, saner, more peaceful place if we quit comparing ourselves to one another and started pooling our knowledge, instead of mourning our ignorance. We could be extraordinary together.
“Humility Keepers”
Stewart Rhodes, the founder of Oath Keepers, was sentenced to eighteen years in prison for his role in planning the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. capitol. When he was allowed to speak at his sentencing, he compared himself to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a political prisoner for many years because of his opposition to Joseph Stalin. Rhodes claimed that he would be “an American Solzhenitsyn.”
I haven’t read a lot of Solzhenitsyn and have to look up his name every time to get the spelling correct. His books are as vast and sprawling as the Soviet Union itself was back in the day. However, I do remember one thing that he said:
“The line between good and evil runs not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart.”
If the line between good and evil runs through every human heart, then we all need to stop thinking that all our problems are “out there” and that they are caused by someone else. It isn’t the Republicans or the Democrats, Biden or Trump, who are causing my problems or ours. It is me, and it is the “us” that includes “me”.
One of the most profound human and political truths ever written was penned by the creator of a cartoon strip, “Pogo” for Earth Day in 1970: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
This is of course a play on a famous saying from The War of 1812. The United States Navy defeated the British Navy in the Battle of Lake Erie. Master Commandant Oliver Perry wrote to Major General William Henry Harrison, “We have met the enemy and they are ours.” However, in the form of a funny play on words is a truth as deadly as an assault rifle and as life-giving as the air we breathe: We are often our own worst enemies. Sometimes, we are our only enemies.
So, what is humility? It is recognizing the truth, as my brother used to say, “Ahh, I ain’t such a much.” None of us is such a much.
And yet, humility is very short supply these days in our county. I’m not sure that we even regard it as a virtue these days. Humility is so rare that it would be difficult to even recognize it. Humility is the persistent awareness that the line between good and evil is within each of us.
Here is the problem as I see it: It is so much easier to dwell on the evil in _________________. (Fill in the blank with your favorite, least-favorite person/group/ institution.) However, it is so much easier to call out the evils in others or in society than it is to face the evil within me. It’s more fun, too!
In the interest of full disclosure, I have my own least-favorites list, and it is a long one. I’m working on crossing off people, institutions, and events on that list, but it’s hard work. Nevertheless, I truly believe that there are only two kinds of people in the world—those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don’t.
See? I told you this is hard.
“On Adjusting Numbered Lists and My Attitude”
Until a few minutes ago, I hated doing numbered lists that include (and/or exceed) 100. The reason is so trivial that it is exceedingly unreasonable: Beginning with the number 100, the document looks messy. When I reach 100, Microsoft Word begins throwing in extra space between the numbers and whatever text accompanies the number.
I’ve never been formally diagnosed as being a compulsive person. However, that does not prevent me from being one. (Oh my! I just looked online to see if the word “prevent” already has the idea of “from” in it, so that the word “from” was unnecessary. I am in even worse shape than I had thought!)
However, this post is actually not about being compulsive. Rather, it is about being a problem solver, as an antidote to carrying around low-grade irritation all the time. I decided to see if I could figure out how to fix this numbering-with-too-much-space issue. I had tried several things in the past that had not worked. So, this time I asked Professor Google. My first hit helped me to solve the problem in a matter of seconds.
So, did I solve the problem, or did someone else solve it? Yes! I humbled myself. I asked for help. I tried what I was advised to do.
Voila! Problem solved.
You may ask, “What does this have to do with me or with anything that actually matters?” My answer is, “A lot!”
That same approach might help us to solve all kinds of problems. And for those of us who believe in God, we believe—at least in theory—that we have an even more powerful search engine than Google. It might be that we could solve a lot of our problems by humbling ourselves, asking for God’s help, and then doing what God says. Each of those three things seems to be easy. Right? However, though they are easy to understand, they are difficult to practice. We all struggle with pride that keeps us from asking for help. And acting on the help we are offered is about as common as hair on a frog. G. K Chesterton said that “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” Indeed!
We have probably all spent a lot of time trying to change ourselves in substantial ways. We’ve augmented our irritation but not our growth in character. How about trying this threefold approach instead:
- Humble yourself.
- Ask God for help.
- Do what God says.
If it doesn’t work, you can always ask for online help. And who knows? Perhaps God can speak through the internet, too. God spoke to me today through the internet. I don’t think that God plays favorites.
“How to Handle a Disappointment”
I just found out that I am not going to be presenting a paper at a scholarly conference I am attending virtually. I don’t know exactly what went wrong, but it appears as if something did. The study group of which I was part isn’t even on the program.
Hurt? Yes. Angry? Yes, that too. However, I am proud of the way I’m handling this—at least, so far.
First, I am trying to find out where things went wrong. I am sending some frank (but carefully worded) emails.
Second, I am acknowledging my hurt and angry feelings. Nothing good ever comes from denying what I am feeling. Nothing! I’ve tried it a lot of times, and it never works out well.
Third, I am refusing to medicate my hurt with actions or thoughts that would numb them. Unfortunately, with us addicts, that is always a possibility. I’ve already called my sponsor and a couple of twelve-step friends to acknowledge the pain and the temptation to justify unjustifiable approaches to this pain.
Fourth, I am trying hard not to be nasty. One of my favorite mantras these days is “Don’t be a jerk!” I’ve invested more than enough time and energy in being a jerk over the years.
Fifth, I am remembering what I heard from the Apostle Peter and from the Apostle Andy Stanley (independently, I would add!) just this morning. Humility under God and with people is the key to all happy relationships. Peter says that we are to clothe ourselves with humility. Andy says that we should frequently ask the question, “What would a humble person do in this situation?” Then, we are to do it.
Sixth, I am remembering why I do scholarship in the first place. There are actually several reasons.
- I do scholarship to glorify God.
- I do scholarship because it helps me.
- I do scholarship for the benefit of others.
This paper dealt with a particularly violent event—or series of events—in the Old Testament: the coup of Jehu as recorded in 2 Kings 9-10, which is referenced in a few other places. The violence in the Old Testament is something that keeps some people from even reading the Bible, much less believing in it or in God. Even believers are troubled by it. At least, we should be. I certainly am troubled by this violence.
My paper may not ever be presented, but the study and discipline that went into it were not wasted. My study has helped me to come somewhat to terms with the violence in the Bible. More importantly, it has helped me to come to terms with the violence in me.
DTEB, “Humility: The Best Policy”
Little things often suggest bigger truths. For example, . . .
. . . I was doing my gratitude list and threw in a comma before the word “but”. My grammar checker flagged the comma. I was a blend of irritated and curious. What was wrong with putting a comma there? My grammar checker was wrong on this one!
Or so I thought.
I checked with Professor Google. Curiosity triumphed over my irritation. From my first hit, I learned that I should only put a comma before the word “but” when it joins two independent clauses.
Here was my original sentence, edited to preserve the privacy of the one for whom I was grateful”
“_________________ had a bad wreck, but is doing well now (or at least better).”
But then, I said to myself—still irritated and wanting to justify my grammatical self—that these two clauses were independent. In fact, now I was even more irritated.
And then it hit me: No, they were not two independent, stand-alone clauses. There is no subject in the second half of the sentence. Therefore, this clause is not independent. I threw in the little word “he” and my grammar checker’s two blue lines magically disappeared. Poof!
Things wax very ironic here. I am a teacher. I am not just interested in good content when I read my students’ papers. I correct my students’ grammar frequently. One of my major emphases is that every sentence needs to have a subject and a verb. I don’t like subjects that are merely “understood”, yet not expressed. It is too easy to misunderstand when something is (supposedly) understood. And here I was, doing the very thing that I correct in my students’ papers.
So, I not only learned something about grammar. I also learned something about me. I learned—again—that I get irritated (and irritation gets me) by what I think I know but don’t. And why is that? I lack one of the cardinal virtues: humility. And naturally, a lack of humility makes me irritated. It also makes me more judgmental of others. What I think I know but don’t may not be so bad in and of itself. In fact, it probably doesn’t amount to anything. However, it can lead to other bad things like pride, irritation, and judgmentalism. Or rather, what I don’t know but think I know can reveal the pride, irritation, and judgmentalism that are already there.
What a lot of unwelcome insight a little comma can generate!
“Pride, Perfectionism, and Addiction”
I’ve struggled with perfectionism all my life. And I’ve always known that I am far from perfect. So, because of my (perceived) honesty, I’ve always thought that I at least had a shot at the little known (and less esteemed) virtue that goes by the name “humility.”
Of course, thinking that you are perfect is pride. But it struck me this morning—in a blinding flash of the obvious—that even wanting to be perfect is pride. And pride, according to the Bible, is not simply recognizing that we have accomplished something good. Pride is pretending that our good is a whole lot better than it is. As such, pride is evil. So wanting to be perfect is not a workable idea.
Furthermore, at least in my case, want-to-be perfection is one component of my addictive personality. Desiring a perfection that can never be, creates tremendous soul dissonance. I cannot tolerate that for long, so I create an escape hatch for my perfectionism. What would feel good to me? What would kill the pain, or at least deaden it?
Voila! Addiction! An escape from reality that proves to be even worse than the reality itself.
What is the antidote to this unholy trinity of perfectionism, pride, and addiction? Perhaps facing the reality of my never-going-to-be-enough-ness might help. At least, I’m never going to be enough if “enough” means being perfect.
I was listening to Psalm 119 on the You Version app this morning. The psalmist praises God and his Torah for 175 verses. There are words of mourning, too, and words that encourage himself and his hearers to follow God’s instruction.
But then comes the last verse, verse 176:
“I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
for I do not forget your commandments.”
(Psalm 119:176 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, https://accordance.bible/link/read/ESVS#Psa._119:176.)
Sometimes, that is the best I can do. I’ve wandered away. Come and seek me! I haven’t entirely forgotten your commandments.
“INNOCENT SUFFERING”
We all wish for the guilty to suffer, and the innocent to be vindicated. And of course all of us are innocent, aren’t we?
But the truth is this: Often the guilty go unpunished.
Or do they?
The guilty have to live with at least one evil person twenty-four hours a day, three-hundred-sixty-five days a year. That person is their own selves. (On leap year, they get an extra day to their sentence.) And while we all sometimes choose to be the guilty person, who really wants to live with one?!
And it also might be asked about how innocent any of us really is?
I realize that this is a terribly unpopular idea, but I still hold to the classic Christian teaching that says that we are all sinners, and that sin is a deadly business for us all.
That does not imply (as it is often thought to imply) that the victim becomes the perpetrator. No! There are the victims, and there are the victimizers. I have been both at different times, and in different situations.
However, I suspect that we all over-rate and over-sell our own innocence.
Still, there are many parts of the Bible that recognize that the innocent suffer through no fault of their own. Psalm 79:3-4, 73:13, and 1 Peter 4:12-19 are just a few of the many verses that acknowledge this uncomfortable truth. In fact, an entire book is devoted to the problem of innocent suffering—the Book of Job.
The teaching of the New Testament is that the truly Innocent One, Jesus, suffered for all the guilty. This is a radical and unpalatable idea. It may or may not be true, but that is what the Bible teaches.
But Jesus also died for the innocent. Apparently, God’s grace and love is so vast that God’s grace and love embrace—that God Himself embraces—all people of all times.
So, if God has embraced the innocent and the guilty, where does that leave us? Should we conclude from this that it doesn’t matter whether we are innocent or guilty in a given situation?
No! Those of us who have been embraced by such a warmly accepting God cannot stay as we were or as we are. Those of us who have come to know that we have been embraced by such love, must acknowledge the fact that we have abused those over whom we held power. We must pray that we will do so no more. We must strive for a godly self-control that will keep us from further devastation.
The Jesus who died for the guilty and the innocent did not die so that the guilty could go on with business as usual. Business as usual is not one of the fruits of such undeserved grace and forgiveness. Gratitude, humility, and transformation of life are the business model of those who have been to the cross of Jesus.
“WATCH OUT FOR PRIDE!”
My wife is not a prideful person. As evidence of her humility, she gave me permission to tell you this story about her.
And yet, even she has her struggles. During our prayer time the other day, she was asking for me to pray for her. She had felt left out recently in regard to a certain matter, and was feeling a bit resentful. “I guess I’m struggling with pride,” she said.
After we had prayed, she turned to a devotional that we are working our way through (Bread for Each Day), and read it out loud. It was titled “THE FIRST SIN”). The Scripture reading at the beginning of the one-page meditation was Proverbs16:18. My sweetheart read the first word of this verse, her eyes got very large, and she burst out laughing. The first word was “Pride”!
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18, italics theirs).
We laughed together about the appropriateness of this reading. I said to God, “Hey! Lay off! She already admitted her pride!”
It was a good reading. The author pointed out that pride was involved in the sin of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:5). Perhaps there is an element of pride in every sin.
For example, I am frequently guilty of radical frustration. “Why haven’t I read all the books ever written about the Old Testament?” I ask myself. Sometimes, frustration boils over, and scalds me and everyone around me with resentment, envy, and self-loathing.
But why on earth do I think that I can or should have read everything written about the Old Testament? The failure—or refusal—to recognize my own limitations is the essence of pride.
I’m not convinced that any of us can ever be entirely humble. If we were, we would probably become proud of the fact that we were entirely humble. We are like dogs chasing our own tails. Seeking to be completely humble is the most subtle and most serious version of pride.
But, at least, we can be aware. We can be aware of how many events in life (and mostly our feelings about those events) trigger our pride. Perhaps such awareness is as close as we can ever come to humility on this side of Heaven.
“HUMBLE CONFIDENCE”
My verse of the day today on my smart phone ap was this:
“ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58, New American Standard Bible, 1995)
I often tell my students, “C.I.E.” This stands for “Context Is Everything!” If you don’t pay attention to the surroundings of a verse, you will not really understand that verse. Or, at the very least, you won’t understand it as well as you could. So, what is the context of 1 Corinthians 15:58?
This verse, in what we call Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, is the practical conclusion of a very important section of teaching. The Corinthian Christians were a pretty messed-up group in a whole bunch of ways. One of those ways was that they did not believe in a real, physical resurrection from the dead.
Paul responds to this is several ways. There isn’t the time in a blog post to go into all of those in depth, so I’ll summarize. Paul basically points out that:
- He and all the other apostles and teachers had taught the resurrection.
- The Old Testament (the Scriptures for Christians of that day) taught the resurrection.
- Jesus had been raised from the dead, and he had so closely identified himself with us that our own resurrection was inevitable.
- There are analogies in nature (seeds for example) that only what dies can spring up to new life.
Paul could deal with some pretty deep issues at times. Although I’ve studied him a great deal, and taught classes on his life and writings, I feel as if I’ve just scratched the surface.
And yet, Paul almost always ends his discussions of abstract matters on a very practical, down-to-earth note. After discussing the Christian doctrine of physical resurrection, Paul basically says, “So get busy, and stay busy doing what you should!”
What on earth (pun optional) does what we do here and now have to do with resurrection?!
Actually, the resurrection has a great deal to do with what we do here and now. Think about it: What is it, ultimately, that calls all our efforts in this life into question? Is it not death? I have heard it said, “Life is hard, and after that you die.” This is a common philosophy.
But if, as Paul and the other early Christian cats taught, death is not the final word, then life—and what we do in it—matter a great deal.
Interestingly, the verbs in the original Greek of 1 Corinthians 15:58 are all in the present tense. This suggests continual or on-going action. Since the resurrection of the dead is true, the Corinthian believers must continually be steadfast, immovable, continually abounding in the work of the Lord, continually knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. (If the present tense wasn’t enough, Paul adds the Greek word for “always” just before the bit about abounding in the work of the Lord! Paul was never bashful about piling on words to make what he was saying clear.)
Today, I begin teaching a course in the regular undergraduate program at the university. I have always taught in the College of Adult Learning, which was populated with people who were closer to my age. I am also using a Bible software that I had never used until about ten days ago. My affirmation, sent to my 12-step sponsor this morning, is as follows:
Today, by God’s grace, I am humble confidence. This combination will honor God, be helpful to students, and will be true to who I am.
Perhaps, in light of the resurrection, I should actually try believing this.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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