In Grade 6, we had a teacher in physical education who loved to tell us, “Boys, be humble?” That became his advice to us all the time. “Boys, you must be humble.” But my naughty classmates added something and said, “Boys, be humble. Be humble like me.” Our teacher, while asking us to be humble, was obviously a very proud man. He failed to see the other components of humility.
While it is true that humility stands on the leg that says you must be lowly. You must consider yourself like water going down, down, down, the lowest that it can go. Yes, but that is not the most important component of humility. The other component of humility is that, even if we recognize that we must go down low, low, low, we must also go up, up, up and say, “Thank You, Lord, for all these blessings.” Humility is not only saying I am nothing. Humility is also saying, “Thank You, Lord for making me something even if I am nothing.”
The third component of humility is not only a matter of being lowly; it is not only a matter of recognizing God as the source of all blessings. The third component of humility is that all the blessings that we have received, we must use for others. Some people are very good in saying, “I am nothing.” But when God blesses them, they still deny the blessings of God and forget to give thanks. When God blesses them with extraordinary talents, they misuse, they ignore these, they fail to use these talents for other people.
We are all blessed. It is not healthy to keep saying we are nothing. We are nothing left by ourselves, but we are something because God has uplifted us. We are something because God has loved us. And because God has loved us, all the gestures, all the blessings that God has given us, we must use exclusively for the benefit of other people.
Humility stands, not on one leg, which is being lowly, but on three: be lowly, be grateful, serve, and live for others.
HUMILITY
Lk. 17:7-10
Love Like Jesus
