Service, if it’s truly service, must involve humility.
Do you agree? The problem is, like most folks I struggle with humility.
I’m not sure I understand it, or know when I have it. And just when I think I might be getting close, I start feeling good about being humble and that’s pride and I fight pride by trying to be humble…
Raise your hand if you’ve ever been trapped in that cycle.
At the FREEDOM TOUR we talk a lot about being servant leaders. I’d like to better understand how to serve with true humility.
A couple of weeks ago our pastor said something that clarified the concept for me.
“Humility is not about thinking less of ourselves. Neither is it about thinking more of ourselves. Humility is about thinking RIGHTLY about ourselves.”
He went on to quote C.S. Lewis.
(God) wants to bring the man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another.
(God) wants him, in the end, to be so free from any bias in his own favor that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly and gratefully as in his neighbor’s talents—or in a sunrise, an elephant, or a waterfall. He wants each man, in the long run, to be able to recognize all creatures (even himself) as glorious and excellent things. C. S, Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
So everyone involved with the FREEDOM TOUR, including Becky and me, should rejoice in its successes. Authentic humility requires each of us to recognize and be grateful for, as frankly as possible, both our own and our friends’ accomplishments.
Apparently, true humility comes from a place of strength and confidence. God wants us to be comfortable in our own skin, at ease with who He created us to be.
So don’t ride the bike, or make a sandwich, or carry a cooler, or write a blog, or make a donation to get attention. Do it because it’s your gift and you love doing it. And if you do it well, rejoice just as much as you rejoice when someone else does something well. And when someone says Great job! don’t deflect with false humility. Smile and say Thanks.
And if you figure out how to do that, let me know because I find that, in the words of a tongue-in-cheek country song:
On Lord, it’s hard to be humble.