What does it mean to be humble? What kind of self-denial (Lk 9:23) does that entail? Is the desire for humility contrary to that of self-confidence? Is one good and the other beautiful? I’d like these thoughts to continue in the Comment section.
Does prayer nurture my humility? It would seem so – that the more I come to know and love God, the more I come to know and love that I am not God. What does this knowledge do to me? Does this knowledge annihilate me in the presence of “I AM WHO AM” (Ex 3:11, 14)? The answer is implicitly no. It is a loving knowledge, not terrifying or destructive knowledge. Love is giving yourself to another, yes. Love is also “receiving one-hundred fold” (Mk 10:28-31) what you have given away – not in quantity but in quality… that is, grace, and virtue.
The presence of God should not annihilate us but fulfill us. Is this not Love? Love does not destroy me by taking something from me. Love enlivens me and “springs up into life everlasting” (Jn 4:14) within me. With this in mind- as it more deeply resonates with you- it merits a note: Humility is truth. The truth resonates from within…
all life is from Life
So then, what is the truth about you and me? I am made out of nothing (which solicits dependence and reveals the lie of self-sufficiency) into something… not something, but into someone, not some one, but son, daughter. What logically follows with sonship? Sonship brings inheritance, adoption, nurture, family, worth, value, self-surrender and abandonment to God. And what comes from that? Life- the full life, the supernatural and Divine life.
We can say this life; this sacred family bond gives self-confidence. The fact that we are redeemed inspires and nurtures in us life and self-confidence. Humility then, I venture to say, brings joy and peace. We recognize the truth about ourselves. We recognize that we are not self-sufficient. We recognize our “born-again” likeness is likened to the Divine, is sacred and worthy. This is not pride. To be prideful is to believe I can be something apart from God. Ironically, apart from God, I am nothing – the sin is self-defeating, self-annihilating. Humility is recognizing this fact, that I am created out of nothing. Here’s the full story: created out of nothing, into something.
The presence of God, my encounter of God in prayer, does not annihilate me. Prayer reveals these truths and therefore is a “school of life;” here I learn how to live in this Great Reality.
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What do you think? Is this an interior delusion? Is it a redeemed view of our worth and a better description of humility? Is it kind of true but needs some work? Let me know. Let’s reflect together and contribute to one another’s lives.
