The Most Humble People are the Best People

I'm a bit apprehensive about approaching "spiritual growth" as a topic. There are a good many reasons for this. For starters- there's the issue of definition. What is spirituality? I think people probably have a tendency to say way too much or way too little on this front. Sometimes people say way too much while communicating very little. For some, it's the sense of connection with life that is larger that one's self (for instance, people talk about feeling united with creation, or with the universe). For some, it's about detachment- believing that attachments are just suffering waiting to happen. For some, it's about internal peace. From a Christian perspective- we could incorporate these ideas, but we would first need to talk about spirituality as a matter of belonging to the spirit of God- and the consequences of that (the consequences being: we become God's partners in transforming creation into a place that reflects God's values).

Spirituality has also become a cultural buzzword. There are a great many gurus writing about spiritual growth these days. While I'm sure there's plenty of good writing out there- I confess I'm always a bit skeptical of gurus because, you know, how spiritual can a person truly get?

I know people who talk a lot about how spiritual they are, or their many and varied spiritual interests, and so on. Does having an interest in spirituality make a person spiritual? Maybe, sure. Does it guarantee it? Does it make someone a guru? I dunno. In some circles, presenting one's self as "spiritual" seems to imply "enlightenment". And if you're enlightened, you get to be superior to others. Because being enlightened is better than being, uh, not enlightened. But you can never admit to feeling superior to others if you're enlightened because enlightened folks know that all people are equal. So you can't say it. You just have to act like you figured something out that nobody else is special enough to see (because they aren't actually equal to you). And this seems to me to be a big problem with the way people approach spirituality in Western culture. It's like a low-key way to feel superior to others while also feeling like you're better than others because of your spiritual superiority.

This leads to the issue of my own hypocrisy if I write about spiritual growth with the above things in mind. If I tell you how to be more spiritual, am I not saying that I know the path and you should listen to me? Am I not saying I discovered the secret and if you get to be a little bit more like me you might find the secret too? (Or, like, maybe not, because you might not have my special-ness). The truth is- I don't know the path. I can point to some things that work for some people. I can't necessarily point you to the thing that will work for you.

And this takes me to a personal value of mine when it comes to spiritual growth: humility.

Because of the grace that God gave me, I can say to each one of you: don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Instead, be reasonable since God has measured out a portion of faith to each one of you.

~ Romans 12:3, CEB

Humility is also a complicated topic. Every time I think of the word humility I think of LeBron James who always says he's so "humbled" when he accomplishes great things. Really? That's humbling for you, LeBron? Before I dunk on LeBron, let me just say- I imagine he means something more like "grateful"...and that's something perhaps we could all understand. My point is this: people use the word humility in odd ways, and I think I've noticed a pattern.

People use the word "humility" either when they accomplish "greatness" (like LeBron tends to do) or the exact opposite. I would imagine you've heard the word humility described this way: I am nothing, God is everything. Everything good you might see in me was done by God. All the bad stuff is me. In other words: humility is either being great or being nothing at all. When we compare these two different versions of humility we end up in a tailspin. Are we humbled by our own greatness? Or is there no greatness in us at all? How are we to resolve this?

Romans 12:3 helps. It gives us the worst advice imaginable: Be reasonable. Who among us is reasonable?! Okay it says a little bit more, fortunately. Essentially it tells us not to think of ourselves as better than others. More specifically, don't have an exaggerated image of yourself (and be reasonable).

I don't know how to tell anyone to do that so I'm not going to try. What I am going to do is point out this: Paul is essentially suggesting that you figure out how to view yourself accurately. Accurately would seem to imply, not too much, and not too little.

I have to be honest- I quite like this framework because I think it works on a few levels. If LeBron sees himself as great, that does not disqualify him from being humble. Why? Because he is great. What it does not leave room for is this thought: I am nothing. There is no good in me. The only good that stems from me is God working through me.

These thoughts are not accurate, therefore they are not humble. It might be more true for you to say to yourself, I need to belong to God's spirit so that I can become the version of myself God has in mind, and I have accomplished some good things in this world. Both can be true, if we want to view ourselves accurately. In order to be accurate, we have to reject the temptation to see ourselves as enlightened, or as having "figured it out" or as having something "the other kind" doesn't have. But we also reject the idea that we have nothing to offer, that we're not needed, that we're not useful, and so on.

You are needed. You are useful. Most of all, you are wanted.

What would have to change for you in order to believe that, eh? I'm guessing some of you don't. But instead of rejecting it, let's get more accurate.

How are you going to do that?