There are numerous promises about humility in the Bible.

Here are just a few: God saves the humble. He supports the humble. God has promised to guide the humble. He gives wisdom to the humble. God will rescue the humble, and He promises to exalt the humble. Scripture makes it clear that God loves genuine humility.

Some define humility in terms of insignificance, inferiority and subservience. One online source refers to humility as “a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance.” That is not so from a biblical standpoint.

Jesus Christ provides the best example of true humility there is. His life was anything but insignificant or inferior, and he certainly did not have low self-esteem. He knew who he was. He knew what he had been called to do. He had amazing self-confidence, and yet he demonstrated incredible humility.

Humility is thinking of others instead of yourself and acting on their best interest instead of your own. Romans 12:10 says, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.”

Humility is giving preference to others. It is about putting others first. It is giving them the spotlight. Humility is giving preferential treatment to others. Humility is about following the example of Christ.

You never saw Jesus pushing his way to the front. Instead, he put himself aside and put others ahead.

Remember the upper room? Who was washing the feet of the disciples? Jesus was God in the flesh, but he took on the status of a slave, an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless obedient life. He modeled true humility.

Humble people are willing to listen and learn from others. They are open to suggestions, correction and constructive criticism. Prideful people typically don’t ask for advice. They’re not into learning from others. That is because pride is often rooted in insecurity.

In Proverbs 13, we are told, “Pride leads to arguments; be humble, take advice and become wise.” Whenever you get in an argument, you can almost count on the fact that for someone, pride is rearing its ugly head. Pride is where conflict typically originates.

It seems fairly obvious that humility is not for wimps. It’s not for passive, low self-esteem, insecure people. It takes courage to be humble.

Next time, we’ll consider some more tangible ways to grow in humility. In the meantime, make time to be open, to listen and to learn from others.

You may read Steve Greene’s blog at pastorgreene.wordpress.com or you can email him at [email protected].