What Are Some Practical Steps To Humility?

Q: The Bible talks a lot about humbling yourself. How can I practically humble myself? How can I discern between being led by ambition and pride versus being led by the Spirit, especially in ministry?

A: Humility is really important. There's a verse that impresses itself upon me: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. That's a beautiful principle repeated three times in the scriptures. We want to be in that place of humility; we don't want to be in the place where God is resisting us.

The core of pride, or the opposite of humility, is not thinking lowly of yourself. It's not about making yourself think badly of yourself. It's not thinking less of yourself; it's thinking of yourself less. True humility says, 'I'm concerned with the people around me. I'm concerned with the Lord himself.' It orders things properly: God first, others second, and me a distant third. That is the spirit of humility.

We all have a tendency, if there's a group picture, to look at ourselves first. We judge the whole picture by how we look. We need to get out of that thinking and be able to enjoy and delight in the accomplishments and achievements of others just as much as we would if they were our own. The key to humility is thinking of yourself less, not trying to think less of yourself. God first, others second, and we will put ourselves as a distant third.