“There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves.”
Yikes…C.S. Lewis does not sound compromising when he writes this passage in Mere Christianity. It’s convicting regardless of your religion. You don’t have to know the vice to know that it’s serious.
What is this mysterious corruption of which we’re all accused? “The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility.”
There it is, the dreaded word: humility. If you’re anything like me, that’s the least desirable virtue – after all, who wants to constantly be putting themselves down in favor of others? Because if we’re talking about humility, I have to bring up the old favorite, Philippians 2:3,”Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
I used to think that no one particularly liked this verse. Everyone has a voice deep down that asks grumpily, “Why should I have to put others before myself? Why should I clean the dishes if it’s someone else’s job? Why should I sit down and listen to her problems when I’m so busy with my own?”
My question was always this: why is it so important to be humble? I know that serving others is important, but do I really have to convince myself that I’m not as good as them? These speculations are from a prideful mind – a mind that secretly believes that it should be served instead of the other way around.
Alright, pride like that doesn’t seem morally sound. But why does C.S. Lewis condemn it so much? This is what he has to say, “Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.” That’s hard to take in. But it’s not just one man’s opinion; you have to look no further than James 3:16 to find it again – “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
If you think about it, they’re right. A prideful man can be envious, rude, judgmental, hateful, and cruel. His pride drives him away from forming any meaningful relationships. There’s one excellent reason to seek humility: if you don’t, it could lead to much worse. After all, when you’re putting yourself first, you don’t have a chance of comprehending a relationship with God – if you’re always looking down on everyone, you can never see something above you.
But a positive motive is always better than a negative one. And just the other day God made clear to me the real reason why humility is not only crucial, but also desirable above all else.
See, I always thought humility meant lowering myself and putting others first and thinking of myself in an unhealthy way in order to be convinced that I was beneath everyone else. Humility, in these terms, was all about me.
And then this thought occurred to me: It’s not about me at all, but instead about more of You.
When I have a ravenous and unquenchable appetite for God, I will never cease looking for Him anywhere and everywhere. I will find Him in nature, in music, in art, and eventually I will find Him in other people. I will see Him in their quirks and their smiles and in the way they walk. “Consider others better than yourselves” isn’t hard to do when you focus on how richly and deeply God loves them. With that lens, all you want is to do the same.
When you see the Living God shine through your brother, it isn’t hard at all to fold his clothes for him. When you can grasp at the utter biological and emotional intricacy behind your friend’s lopsided smile, you could listen to her talk for the entire day without rest. Humility isn’t a burden at all. It’s actually an act of freedom – freeing you from yourself.
A self-centered humility can never succeed – how can it put someone else first when it’s so busy worrying about its own place? That’s still pride, no matter what name it calls itself. But when you fixate your entire being on seeing God, hearing God, and knowing more of God, it’s only natural that you forget yourself in the process.
“Every one there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light. But they do not call it goodness. They do not call it anything. They are not thinking of it. They are too busy looking at the source from which it comes.”
–C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
