As I was reading Luke, it struck me how crucial humility is to seeing and loving goodness (and therefore, Jesus). No one who’s trying to maintain an image of perfection will be comfortable around Jesus, for in order to sustain the illusion in the face of real perfection, they must either justify themselves or denigrate Him. Only those who are humble and honest about their own sin can stand to be around, let alone love, someone who is truly good.
The more I read the Gospels, the more I see that humility is the key to living the Christian life. It’s the key to loving well. It’s the key to being loved. It’s the key to seeing God. It’s the key to representing Christ to others. It’s how to avoid contempt, and lack of prayer, and lack of love for the lost, and lack of gratitude. It’s the main characteristic the Pharisees lacked, and it’s the one that led to all of their sins of rebellion against Christ and their lack of compassion for humanity. It’s the defining characteristic of the incarnation (Phil. 2:1–11), the unique beauty of Christianity.
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Seek humility! See it in Jesus. Know it, love it, pray for it, embrace it, live by it.