When we begin to understand the depth of our depravity and sin and recognize the wrath we justly deserve from God, we will be filled with gratitude, joy, and wonder at such a great salvation we have in Christ our Savior: Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! (Ps. 100:4)

Charles H. Spurgeon once stated, “Humility is to make a right estimation of one’s self.” Here are twelve good reasons to grow in humility.

1. Humility enables you to rejoice in and submit to your sovereign Creator.

A humble heart willingly and joyfully submits to God in all things because he is the Creator and we are his creation:

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. (Prov. 19:31)

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. (Eccles. 5:2)

All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isa. 66:2)

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Dan. 4:35)

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:44)

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Heb. 11:3)

2. Humility enables you to respect others.

A humble heart keeps you from thinking that you are better than your neighbor and reminds you that everyone has immeasurable value, as all people are God’s image-bearers:

Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. (Rom. 13:7)

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Phil. 2:3-4)

Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (1 Pet. 2:17)

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Pet. 5:5)

3. Humility enables you to recognize your sinfulness.

A humble heart is acutely aware of the truth that we all fall short of God’s holy standard:

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” [Isa. 6:5)

[Peter] fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8)

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 3:23-24)

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)

4. Humility enables you to forgive others.

A humble heart helps you to always be mindful of God’s forgiveness to you in Christ and your subsequent duty to forgive others who have sinned against you:

“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matt. 6:12)

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. (Matt. 18:21-22)

“And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11:25)

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph. 4:32)

Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Col. 3:13)

Read More