True Humility

What happens when all is said and done, when no one else is looking, and God is the only one left to see your heart? Do we put on a show for Him, like we try to for everyone else - saying all the right words, doing all the things we are supposed to do - and wait for God to say, "Well, done, Jennifer, you are certainly a humble servant," as we then bask in our own pride for being humble? Somehow, I do not think this is the standard Christ calls us to when He says in Matthew 5, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." (5)

God's call for us to be humble is far above what the world thinks humility is. On one hand, the world does not treat humility (even in the wrong sense of the word) as something to be desired. According to the world, those who are humble will never succeed in life because they are never agressive enough to make something happen. On the other hand, when the world does recognize humility as a desireable trait, it is usually a fake humility that even the most proud person can pass off on others. This happens when people appear to "pass" on credit "due" them by saying, "It was really nothing" or "You would have done the same for me" when questioned about a particular action.
However, while we may outwardly say that to people, on the inside we're really thinking, "Well it's about time you noticed something I did, because I certainly didn't do this NOT to get some recognition for it!" Some people will say this aloud, and on one hand, at least they are telling the world the truth about what they think, instead of trying to disguise their motives by hiding behind a fake humility like the rest of us.

So how are we to be humble in a world that doesn't even know what true humility is? Let us look to Christ, the perfect example of humility embodied for us in the Gospels. Often we think being humble means not talking much, not insisting on our own opinions, and not taking a stand for ourselves, but that is actually the exact opposite of what Jesus, the perfect humble man, did on earth. Not only did he speak a lot about the truth of God, but He most certainly insisted everyone believe Him, and stood entirely against the Jewish Pharisaical concept of humbleness. He called the Pharisees "whitewashed tombs" exactly for the reason that they gave the appearance of holiness and humility while having dead, rotting hearts, set only on themselves!

Now that isn't exactly our idea of what it means to be humble, but really it should be - Jesus spoke the truth and had nothing to gain for it -- Actually, he had everything (in the material sense of the word) to lose! Remember, the Pharisees didn't really like Him as it was, much less after He calls them rotting tombstones. Yet Jesus did not speak to gain recognition for His actions - He spoke because the Pharisees offended God by their appearance of holiness, and the Jewish people needed to see that their way was not God's way.

So before we think we are humble, consider Christ's words in Matthew 23:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence...First cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also... You are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." (25-28)