Friday, December 04, 2009
Humility and Self-Knowledge
Justin Taylor quotes John Piper quoting C.S. Lewis and Jonathon Edwards. Quoting Piper:
Humility is an absence of self. The moment you achieve humility you won't know it, because if you did, you would be paying too much attention to yourself.
Humility senses that humility is a gift beyond our reach. If humility is the product of reaching, then we will instinctively feel proud about our successful reach. Humility is the gift that receives all things as gift. It is the fruit not of our achievement but of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). It is the fruit of the gospel—knowing and feeling that we are desperate sinners and that Christ is a great and undeserved Savior.I truly love this definition of humility. It is not about self-denial for self-denial has you still thinking about yourself. It's not about self-depreciation, for once again, that has you thinking about yourself. It's not about anything that has in its title, or is associated with self.
Humility is the one grace in all our graces that, if we gaze on it, becomes something else. It flourishes when the gaze is elsewhere—on the greatness of the grace of God in Christ.
Humility is an absence of self. The moment you achieve humility you won't know it, because if you did, you would be paying too much attention to yourself.
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