Few of us are truly humble or meek. That is to say most of us are never free of pride. True humility is a Godly quality and can only be manifested in our nature when we are one with God. We only have to look to the example of God the Father, the Infinite Whole, to apprehend the nature of humility. It was humility that led God the Father to sacrifice his only Son so that humanity could be reconciled to Him.
It is extremely important to understand the significance of this; and it begins with understanding that God the Father on at least three separate occasions, declared Jesus to be his son. Why? Because Jesus was the only person in all of humanity since the first man to be ONE with God. Yes, that’s right. Out of the billions who had come before him, including the prophets, Jesus was the only one to attain ONENESS with God the Father. It gives a whole new meaning to the concept of, “few”.
In Matthew 3:16-17 we note, After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” Here God declares Jesus to be his son. This is such an act of humility that many of the worlds religions, most notably Islam, deny that God would have a son because God is too great and powerful to condescend to have a son. And then, manifesting Godly humility, Jesus rejects his inheritance as a son and endures the most agonizing of deaths in order fulfill his Father’s desire to reconcile all of humanity as son’s and heirs to himself. The sacrifice was necessary to demonstrate once and for all that humanity has no life apart from God, and it is only in the giving up of one’s life that one can have life eternal. This is in stark contrast to what many misguided theologians would have you believe, that the sacrifice was some bloody payment for sins and evils of the world. No, it was the ultimate act of love and humility to show humanity the WAY. And though scripture often references atonement for sins and wrongs committed, the nature of the atonement is in the humility that leads to the willing acceptance of the consequences of separation from God. Jesus was the embodiment of this humility and hence the atonement. He was the only ONE willing to accept the consequences.
Scripture (I make no distinction here between old and new testaments) is replete with references to the importance and consequences of humility. Take Zephaniah 3:11-13 for example: “In that day you will feel no shame Because of all your deeds By which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst Your proud, exulting ones, And you will never again be haughty On My holy mountain. 12“But I will leave among you A humble and lowly people, And they will take refuge in the name of the LORD. 13“The REMNANT of Israel will do no wrong And tell no lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue Be found in their mouths; For they will feed and lie down With no one to make them tremble.” Note the clear reference to “remnant”(the emphasis is mine), which means few and its conjunction with “humble” and “lowly”. And here again in the words of Jesus we find: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Yet most of us who have not endured near the suffering of a Mandela or a King, or Malala nor comprehended the agony of Jesus, or the God-sized pain of his Father, are unable to exercise the tiniest bit of humility that would lead to real love that would free us all from our own individual prisons and reunite us with God the Father, the Infinite Whole.
The most difficult task that each of us faces in this life is overcoming pride. Our nature, separate from God is incapable of humility. The reason that only a few will enter the narrow gate that leads to life is because we are deceived into believing that we can live separate from God. We believe that power comes from believing in ourselves, our military, our country our religion and in the false humility of self-righteousness.
There is only one key that will open the lock-box that contains the will naming the heirs to eternal life: HUMILITY is that key. And few there be that will find it.
Pride has been one of my greatest ongoing downfalls throughout my life, and even when I think I have transcended it, it still pops up. The only way I can deal with it is to accept the fact that I’m not perfect and probably never will be. So, instead of being angry at my pride, I humbly admit it to myself and gently remind myself that through conscientious self witnessing, the witness will eventually prevail.
Yes, the real trick to conquering pride is extreme self awareness, a calm self objectivity, which leads to a personal mea culpa. A small miracle ensues when you do this, pride begins to wither away as long as you continue the “self witnessing”.