My heavens, I aspire to a high brand of humility. However, every time I embellish my childhood athletic accomplishments—Captain of the defense, Suniland Sharks, age 12, thank you very much—into something more, I’m afraid I feed a lifelong pattern that is hard to break: to want others to think more highly of me than I know myself to be. Talk about pride issues.
As a long-abiding fan of the Apollo astronauts, particularly the courageous Neil Armstrong who, though he was the first man to step foot on the Moon (that’s one small step for man), carried himself throughout his life thereafter with uncommon humility. Even though everyone concurred he had the “right stuff,” there was no bragging in this man’s makeup. I know what I would have been saying far and loud when I got back to Earth, which is but one of the reasons I wasn’t picked.
James 3:5 reads: “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!” Anyone else feel like God is speaking right into them with that verse? Thought so. With apologies, I’m comforted to hear it. I also find solace in a growing awareness of my boastful tendencies, both subtle and overt, sometimes even going so far as to thank God for continuing to reveal these to me daily. And though it would be easy to get down over how far I still have to go in the matter of my prideful promotions, there is a hopeful side to the foregoing confessional: I’m finally humble enough to know I’m not humble enough. This hardly puts me in the “right stuff” category, but at least it’s one small step in the right direction.
I hope this encourages you to walk in humility today.
Kevin Murray
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