Lovewell: A Theology - Day 30

Colossians 3:12
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Humility is the second characteristic of a servant leader. A leader with humility is” not someone who thinks less of himself/herself, rather it is someone who thinks of themselves less”–C.S. Lewis.

I love this quote because it makes sense out of humility to me. There are some really great characteristics that are involved in humility. People who believe in humility are not boastful. They don’t flaunt their wealth, achievements, status, accomplishments are anything else they may have. They are modest, and sometimes even embarrassed by praise, they are also really excited when someone else succeeds and they are happy to give credit where credit is due.

They are also usually pretty grateful for the things they have, and for that which has been given to them. They take time to be grateful and recognize how lucky they are to have such gifts in life.

They work hard not to belittle others, because they are not jealous of others. They don’t spend time being proud, rather, they realize they shouldn’t take credit for anything they didn’t do.

People with humility are not rude. Rudeness is a common trait amongst those who have little humility. The other day, I was on a plane and we were about to miss our connecting flight. I was so worried that I sort of pushed through the crowd to get ahead. My wife was horrified, and when I realized that I had pushed through some people who were a bit disabled in order to get ahead, I was mortified. We need to take the time to humbly serve one another. We made it to the plane with time to spare, I didn’t need to be rude to get ahead.

Humility and possessiveness are not compatible with each other. Those who are humble are not jealous or worried about what other people have. They do not try to hoard things for themselves, and they are pretty comfortable with giving things away.  

Self-pity is not in the humble person's vernacular. Rather, they find ways to pick themselves up and to grow other people. They understand that every experience, good or bad, can eventually be used for some purpose greater than themselves, and so they don’t need to feel sorry for themselves.

There are certainly more traits we could talk about, but the last one I will mention is that a person with humility will not be judgemental. They won’t be because they know that it is possible that they will at some point be in the same situation as who they are judging, and they would not want to be treated in that way.

1. What character traits do you think people with humility have? Any more than mentioned here? 
2. Do you consider yourself a humble person? 
3. How can you work toward being more humble today?