Thursday, July 26, 2007
On Humility
Mark Lauterbach wrote a couple of very interesting, and confessional, posts on humility. Here is the first and here the second. His conclusion:
If the primary attribute of those in Christ is selflessness, then why is personal salvation the primary focus of most Christian activity? "I want to be saved." "I want to be mature." "I want to grow in Christ." "I want to develop into a Christian leader." Seems to me that true Christlikeness, measured in humility will produce a remarkable absence of that little tiny word "I."
"What would You have me do Lord?" and "How can I help you" are, I think, far better expressions of the Christian life that the examples I cited in the previous paragraph.
First a warning, then an application...
The warning. There is a tendency by some that I believe quite evil to play upon humility and tempt it to service of an institution instead of service to others. They are quite different things. The institution is a means of service to others, but they are not worthy of service of themselves.
The application. How do you blog? Is it for self-expression, or is for your audience? Further, if you are a successful blogger, how have you cultivated that success? Was it through endless self-promotion, or selfless service?
Sadly, I think most Christian blogging is one of the greatest exercises in narcissism yet foisted upon the church. We write about ourselves when we should be writing about Jesus and to others.
Let's vow to blog humbly.
Related Tags: humility, selflessness, Christlikeness, blogging
Humility is not self-deprecation; it is not self-criticism. Humility is selflessness in the presence of others. It is esteeming others more important than myself. It is not looking out for myself, but for others.Mark discusses how much this was an attribute of Christ and how little it is an attribute we hold up. Which raises a fascinating issue for me.
If the primary attribute of those in Christ is selflessness, then why is personal salvation the primary focus of most Christian activity? "I want to be saved." "I want to be mature." "I want to grow in Christ." "I want to develop into a Christian leader." Seems to me that true Christlikeness, measured in humility will produce a remarkable absence of that little tiny word "I."
"What would You have me do Lord?" and "How can I help you" are, I think, far better expressions of the Christian life that the examples I cited in the previous paragraph.
First a warning, then an application...
The warning. There is a tendency by some that I believe quite evil to play upon humility and tempt it to service of an institution instead of service to others. They are quite different things. The institution is a means of service to others, but they are not worthy of service of themselves.
The application. How do you blog? Is it for self-expression, or is for your audience? Further, if you are a successful blogger, how have you cultivated that success? Was it through endless self-promotion, or selfless service?
Sadly, I think most Christian blogging is one of the greatest exercises in narcissism yet foisted upon the church. We write about ourselves when we should be writing about Jesus and to others.
Let's vow to blog humbly.
Related Tags: humility, selflessness, Christlikeness, blogging
