Humility and holiness

Just the other day I picked up a copy of "Humility: The Journey Toward Holiness" by Andrew Murray (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2001). It's a good little read and has a lot to contribute to a discussion on holiness.

Humility is something I have struggled with my whole life. Not so much because I'm full of myself and want everyone to know about it. Quite the opposite. Rather, it's because I much prefer to not be in the spotlight, but I find that God has gifted me with particular talents and abilities that see me often in the public eye. So I have constantly battled with the issue of remaining humble, living a life that points to Christ and glorifies God through the power of the Spirit, but at the same time being confident in who I am in Christ. To be perfectly honest, I get that balance wrong at times. Sometimes I do promote myself rather than Christ and so humility gets left behind. Other times I "bury my talents" in the name of humility (which is not humility at all really) and so don't do what God has called me to do. This is a journey that I have been on all my life and haven't arrived there (wherever "there" is???) yet. However, here's what I have learned so far.

1. Humility stems from seeing myself in the light of who God is.
2. I am to "humble myself" before God.
3. He is the one who will "lift me up" (James 4:10)
4. Humility is the example of Christ and so part of what it means to be "Christlike" (Philippians 2:1-11).

I'm no expert on this topic, but I believe that a significant step on the pathway to "being holy, as God is holy" involves humility. Humbling ourselves before the God of all creation, just as Christ did, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, and he will lift us up into the very presence of the Triune God (Colossians 3:3). "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15)