The Reality

A true prayer for humility must originate from an accurate perception of my own state of affairs. Humility is not granted as if it were some power to be disposed; rather it is a clear understanding of reality. My finite limitations in the face of God limitless power. My sinfulness standing in the shadow of God's plan for salvation on the cross. It's aggrandizing self-deprecation but rather seeks to absolve the equation of the "self" completely while transfixing our gaze on the divine. For it is easy to summarize my life in the absence of Christ as Paul states in Ephesians 2 as "dead." I was dead, so what point is there to talk of it? I would much rather focus on the awesomeness of God that even though I was dead, God was still greater.

Humility is a quick, yet at times painful, realization that I am, in fact, dead (or at least was) while also the realization of unfathomable riches of God's grace which has chosen me through no fault or success of my own. Humility is never complete but continues to grow as we mine the abundance of God's glory while maintaining the foundation that we are dead without him. In this way humility begins and ends at the cross. For at the cross my death is made evident while Christ's glory is displayed. It is the ultimate picture of human depravity and divine grace. Humility is nothing more than a true realization of this profound reality: I am nothing save for Christ.