I have said, and I reaffirm, that being born again (saved by trusting in Christ Jesus) is the single most important thing any person can ever do on this earth. After that, humility is without doubt the most important quality of any individual. Humility is a godly trait and one God requires, because the Lord cannot use proud people.
Pride is a great evil and one that God hates. Proud people think of themselves as more important than others. They take credit for their achievements, and thereby steal the glory that belongs to God alone. After all, God gives us everything we have: intelligence, physical strength, our job opportunities, and everything we need to be successful.
But real success is living according to God’s will. It is living for Him and bringing Him glory. God is the only person in the entire universe who deserves glory. He created us to give Him glory. And God will not share His glory. Men try to steal it at their peril.
God works in our lives. He rewards and helps the humble, but He corrects and punishes the proud. Romans 29:23 warns, “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.” Jesus said, “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11). Unfortunately today, vanity is much more common than humility. That is a tragic fact of modern American society. Ironically, people don’t like others that are vain. Ben Franklin put it this way, “People dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves.”
Think of the people you like best or even love. They are humble people. Proud people are hard to like because they are always thinking of themselves. Wise people are humble because they love God and others and realize that humility makes them lovable. They prefer, when possible, to be loved by others, because being loved makes people happy.
When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus gave two, “Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). Anyone who keeps these two commandments, though imperfectly, will be loved by all good people. But the key to all of this is humility.
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Ralph Fudge is the pastor of Big Ochlocknee Baptist Church in Coolidge, Ga., and has a Master’s degree in theology from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
