Humility and Life

In this four years series I have referred several times to ordinary (common)life.  I wanted one page to be entitled: Mundane, but have decided against it for no other reason than readers might denigrate the word to something that I do not mean at all.  After reading a devotional from Philip Ryken I feel persuaded to use commonplace.  I resonate with stories of tiny events in life that lead to large commitments.  Ryken’s devotional piece used the word commonplace as I would have used mundane/ordinary, but his has greater affirmation to it, even if it refers to the ordinary, the even numbers, the regular, the expected, the melding of human conduct with a mixture of God’s undramatic ways found in ordinary human experience in nature. The accents of mankind may not be those of God.  God’s interest in evaluating mankind is related to faithfulness.  Glimpses of human faithfulness appear in Scripture as when the disciples, preparing to be the special vanguard of God to ministry, collected the garbage after the feeding the 5,000, plus women and children, and made sure the site was as pristine as they found it.  It was a clean picnic.

It is clear from Scripture that God adjusts to the contexts of earth life, so some persons serve in positions of honor (as authorities) and some to dishonor (as menial laborers) – and he does not differentiate honors in the assignments. When our performances serve society (mankind) affirmatively the services are calculated as equal.  The evaluation is not made on the respect of mankind for status, but on God’s evaluation of faithfulness to the assignment.  I am reminded that during the years I lived in San Francisco, a garbage collector died after decades of faithful work in his assignment.  His story was front page in that he had made a reputation not only as a faithful worker but as a friend to the people of the neighborhood that he served.  Another report was similar in that a waiter at a restaurant along the Bay had reached the age of a hundred years and was a favorite citizen.  His last years at the restaurant were simply as something of a greeter to the diners, some of whom went to the restaurant to include the old fellow in their context for the evening.  We can be sure that these persons were significantly closer to God’s approval for earthly life than a gifted person gaining celebrity status but living selfishly making little needed contribution to others.  We may not realize how highly regarded is any needed work/service accomplished faithfully by any person.

Humility is both a virtue and necessity.  Love we have for our parents and for others is enhanced by an attitude of humility.  Humility is part of our thankfulness for life, and recognition of faithfulness as something to be honored.  It tends to lead us to what is valued as God factors value.  Our parents gave us so much of their time that could have been used to their advantage so humility honors them, even if love seems minimal.  It is enough to honor sacrifice – even if the sacrifice is modest compared to that of others.  Our society is going through a period when all this perception is becoming diluted.  The evasion of faithfulness to children and parents, and increase of abuse and denial, with distortion to the point of losing the meaning of family seems to threaten society’s well-being.  The increase in the statistics of persons believing the family is no longer relevant in a changing society is scary and highly threatening. 

Humility is related to other virtues.  The love one has for another is enhanced when, in humility, one regards the other as better than himself/herself.  In this context we might study the teaching about regard in Scripture.  It is surprising that some persons will not regard God or mankind.  They are perceived to be outside the pale of those whom God will regard.  God’s attention to mankind is an illustration, a model, of humility.  The agnostic, the atheist, seems not to have a sound view of what God is like, God living and functioning in nature.  God’s compassion is founded in love and offered to mankind in perfect humility – unforced.  By this doctrine and it is a doctrine, Christians are taught to regard others.  We are improved in life when bearing genuine humility, a voluntary conclusion that respects the manner in which God works. Humility is characteristic of the cast clearly observed in Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Magi – and Emmanuel.  We learn humility in that silent night, that holy night.  The spirit is calm.  The Star of God is bright.