Prayer Tip: The Power of Humility

by Ashly Cooley, Executive Assistant to Locations & Care at Resurrection

“Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man… It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition is gone, pride is gone….
As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on thing and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.” *

The request for us to be humble in the sight of the Lord or to walk humbly with God has always felt like a difficult concept to understand. It isn’t a word that is discussed often in our culture, which is built on competition and self-aggrandizement. If everyone is being prideful, trying to gather more than their neighbor, why is it wrong?

I believe the reason lack of humility is so dangerous is because it keeps us from being in connection with God and others. As C.S. Lewis says, if we are always focusing on ourselves and how great we are, we are not focusing on our need to be in relationship with God, or worse, we are so focused on ourselves we are not even aware of God.

When we are walking around trying to make everyone see how great, powerful, or even how “right” we are, we are missing an opportunity to connect with co-workers, neighbors, and friends. Who wants to hang out with someone who is self-absorbed?

Pride can become like a malignancy, growing and growing until it cuts off our connection with others. It cannot be satiated. Pride will leave you wanting more and more affirmation. Viewing ourselves as God’s creations, fearfully and wonderfully made, doesn’t mean we don’t recognize our gifts and feel good about ourselves. It just means we can rest easy in the fact that we are loved the way we are, and that others are equally made with gifts and beauty. There is no need to compete. Humility opens us to the idea that we are all made by God and we can use the gifts God gave us, follow God’s lead and work in harmony together to bring about goodness and mercy in our everyday connections.

1. Sometimes we feel that we are sucked into needing to prove ourselves. Think of a time when you felt the need to prove yourself to someone. Why do you think you felt that way? Take some time to pray and rest in the knowledge that you are enough, just the way you are.
2. Take some time to think about the gifts God has given you. Say thank you. Ask for guidance to use those gifts humbly in service to your community.

Dear God, thank you for the assurance that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are made to love and serve you and others. When we rest in that knowledge, the need to compete dissolves and we can go on using your gifts in productive ways and experience true connection with you and others. Amen.

* Lewis, C. S., Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis Signature Classics) (p. 122-124). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.