1 Peter 5.5-6
“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.”
This passage reveals just how important humility is to authentic Christianity. It is so important that scripture instructs: “clothe yourself with humility.” It is so important that scripture declares: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
As the great 18th American preacher Jonathan Edwards wrote, “We must view humility as one of the most essential things that characterizes true Christianity.”
Here are other scriptures that emphasizes humility:
“He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.” (Psalm 25.9)
“The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.” (Proverbs 22.4)
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7.14)
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2with all humility …” (Ephesians 4.1-2)
Jesus himself is the ultimate example of humility. Philippians 2.5-8 tells us this:
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,c being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Pride pushes us away from God; humility draws us toward God. When we approach God with a humble heart, we agree with God about our true condition and our true need for Christ.
The reality is that we need Jesus today just as much as we did the day we came to faith in him. That’s a humbling truth we should never forget. No matter how self-sufficient we imagine ourselves to be, we are all perpetually in need of God’s grace.
Here is what Jesus said as recorded in Luke 14.11: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
In other words, hell is full of people who think they deserve heaven, whereas heaven is full of people who know they deserve hell.
