Who Do You Think You Are?

One of the tougher things to learn and practice in this world is humility.  Some people are probably more natural at it than others, but it is a hard thing for pretty much all of us.  We were all built with a sense of pride and a sense of self-preservation.  When we feel the need to defend ourselves or the picture of ourselves, humility often gets shunted aside.   It is part of our human nature, and in this day and age, it is increasingly part of our society.  David Brooks makes a point in this column that while our founding fathers focused on their own frailty and the frailty of man and designed a system to protect man from himself, now we are more interested in just getting what we want.  It is not just in politics he notes.  He says,

But over the past few decades, people have lost a sense of their own sinfulness. Children are raised amid a chorus of applause. Politics has become less about institutional restraint and more about giving voters whatever they want at that second. Joe DiMaggio didn’t ostentatiously admire his own home runs, but now athletes routinely celebrate themselves as part of the self-branding process.

The Bible warns of this. "For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." (Galatians 6:3 NAS)

So a good question becomes, are you more apt to play defense or deference?  We are supposed to consider others more important than ourselves.  When we slip into defensive mode, we are thinking primarily of ourselves.  It is our default setting, but we need to move away from that setting.  We need to see ourselves as having value only as a result of Christ's work for us and in us, not because we are all that (and a bag of potato chips).  I want to show humility to my kids, my friends, the church, everywhere.  It is hard.  It is hard to even show that humility to my wife, especially when I think I am right, but the more I practice deference over defense, the less I fight with anyone and the more I can love others.  It doesn't mean I never stand up for what is right, but I listen first and when I need to make a stand on what is right, I do it without a spirit of defensiveness, but with a spirit of love.

This is one of the reasons I think we are supposed to be careful of human titles.  It is one of the reasons why I don't want to be called "Pastor".  When we start focusing on our titles or our position, that works against humility.  If I think I have some special power at church, that I deserve some special measure of respect because "I am the PASTOR!" then I am in for trouble.  I am moving towards being served rather than serving, with an attitude that I am more important than others.  That is not servant leadership.  I am a shepherd to be sure, and as such I have been given spiritual authority, but that authority and power is to serve, to sacrifice myself for the flock, and to tend for them ahead of myself.  Not to lord it over them as some do.  I still need correction, I still need to be teachable, I can still be wrong.    And when another shepherd, or a member of the flock comes to me to tell me that they think I am wrong, my reaction, whether or not they are right and whether or not they are gentle and loving in their approach, needs to be one of humility and deference.  Maybe they are right, and if they are, I need to see it and admit it.  Maybe they are wrong, and if they are, I need to show them that lovingly and gently and not react defensively because I feel threatened.

It can't be all about us.  For those of us who know Christ, it must be all about Him.