Growing in Humility

In the making of a movie, absolutely nothing happens without the owner of the set. They provide the location, the equipment, the materials—everything. A scriptwriter creates the story, a producer funds it, and a director brings it to life. There’s a lead actor, a supporting cast, and a behind-the-scenes crew, each with a specific role to play. Now imagine that life itself is a movie. In this story, God is the owner, writer, producer, director, and main character. He created the world, wrote the script, and calls the shots. Our role? We’re the background crew—meant to serve His vision and serve others on set. But somewhere along the way, something inside of us wanted more. We stepped out of our role, tried to take creative control and centered the camera on ourselves. But what happens when the background crew starts acting like that? Could it be that something deeper than ambition is driving our desires?

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Ellie’s Misconstrued Role

Meet Ellie. Ellie was hired on a movie set as a behind-the-scenes helper assigned to get everyone’s coffee and lunch. One day, Ellie lost sight of her role and thought it would be okay to cross lines out of the script and rewrite it to her liking. In this new script, she casted herself as the main character. She thought that she would be perfect for that role because of her beauty and brilliance. Then, Ellie began walking around the movie set thinking and acting as if she was the star of the movie. While Ellie saw other people on the set, she did not consider how she could help support them, instead she primarily wondered how they can support her. When she was confronted about these things by the director, she became upset and said that she had every right to change the script to her liking. To help support her point, she told everyone that the writer’s opinions were outdated while she had more of a keen sense of how the movie should go.

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Has Your Role Been Misconstrued?

As you read about Ellie, what do you think would influence her to develop such presumptions? I wonder how many of us have taken on similar presumptions to Ellie in this movie set of life. Consider the following:

• How often do you feel like it is up to you to write the script of your life without seeking to discover and live out God’s plan for your script as shown in the Bible?
  
• Does it often feel like you are the main character of life, while God, along with everyone else, plays the roles of supporting cast, extras and behind the scene helpers?
  
• How often do you feel like life’s camera is zoomed in on you because you are the most important character in the room?
  
• Do you ever see other people and primarily wonder how you can use them to best suit your preferences for your plot line as opposed to you supporting them in theirs?
  
• Do you ever feel like God’s script that he wrote for you in the Bible is “outdated” or irrelevant and you have a more keen sense about how to write your plot line?
  
• Do you ever get upset about God’s commands in the Bible and justify being the director of your own life by stating that it is your right to do so?
  

These subconscious perspectives are likely common in our culture. We unknowingly consume many narratives every day that subtly suggest that is actually how life should be viewed. However, as you zoom out from those perspectives, do you see any problems that lie within them? Is it possible they are indicative of an insidious problem so pervasive in our culture that we cannot see it in our daily life? When these characteristics are manifesting in our life, pride, or an over inflated ego has likely crept into our hearts. We have all heard of pride, but the meaning of it gets lost in translation as it is often misused and only vaguely defined. So what is pride exactly?

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Pride: The Antithesis of Humility

Pride is an inflated sense of self and a constant preoccupation with one’s own importance. Every other sin stems from pride, because sin, by definition, is transgression against God’s law and pride justifies its ability to do just that. In both James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5 they reveal that, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  The Bible does not say that God opposes the gluttonous, covetous, fornicators, etc., but only to the proud. What is it about pride that would lead God Himself to be opposed to it? According to pastor and psychologist Dr. William Backus, in his book, “What Your Counselor Never Told You,” he answers that question: “It is because of its core, because of what you always find when you peel away layer after layer of our arrogant attitudes. Down in its heart of hearts, our pride generates lethal animosity against God and promotes the belief that ‘I ought to be, can be, and by right am my own god.’ Every person’s proud heart, in some way or in every way, wants to be in charge, wants to displace God and move into primacy, taking first place. This illusion is called autonomy.”

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Understanding Humility

Contrary to pride is humility.  Humility is not self-deprecation. Humility is a posture of the heart that reflects: A conscious rejection of pride and self-sufficiency; a humble estimate of one's importance in light of God's greatness; a deep recognition of one's dependence on God and that all that we have and are comes from God’s grace; a willingness to submit to His will with an attitude of openness and teachability; a voluntary choice to lower oneself rather than elevate one's own status; and valuing others above oneself and seeking their well-being over one's own personal gain through selflessly serving them.

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The Humility of Jesus

Jesus embodies the qualities of humility perfectly.  They are an inseparable part of who He is.  Philippians 2:3-8 highlights this: “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.  When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” In other words, although Jesus is the writer, director, executive producer and owner of the whole movie studio, he did not demand entitlement to his rights. He loved everyone on the movie set so much that he showed up every day to the studio to make sure everyone’s dressing room was stocked. He scrubbed all of the toilets, and washed all of the floors. He generously took care of everyone’s complaints both small and large, and they had a lot of them. He paid everyone’s salary. While he was serving everyone, they were all anxiously desiring to either be in charge of the movie set or the star of the movie. Due to those desires, they showed him contempt, tried to humiliate him and mock him while He continued to be patient. The plot turned towards greater conflict when He found out incriminating information about everyone who worked for him. It turns out that every single person in his studio had egregiously committed numerous heinous felonies deserving of capital punishment. This caused him great grief. While it would have been right and good for him to let them face the consequences they deserve, he so loved them that he talked to the judge who agreed to let him voluntarily take their sentence upon himself in exchange for their exoneration. Jesus willingly went through that even though they were the ones who deserved to die. He lowered himself to that level so that others who mistreated him could live and be set free. Now we are called to emulate Him.

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Developing Humility

So, how can we start to develop more humility? Here are a few principles.

1. Recognize God's Role
Humility starts with remembering that God is the writer, director, and main character of life’s story. We are not. We’re the background crew—created to follow His lead, not write our own script. That means staying teachable, submitting to His will, and depending on His wisdom and grace. Begin each day by acknowledging: He’s in charge—and we’re not.

2. Serve Others on the Set
God didn’t cast us to pursue our own spotlight, but to help others thrive in their story—especially in their journey toward Him. Humility is expressed in serving, encouraging, and caring for others, even when it costs us something. Look for opportunities, big or small, to meet needs and uplift those around you.

3. Keep the Camera on Jesus
Life’s story is about Jesus. We lose humility when we start to think the camera is zoomed in on us. But when we remember He’s the true star, we can take our rightful place and reflect His glory—not compete with it. If pride creeps in, pause, confess, and re-direct the camera on Him.

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Prayer for Humility

On our journey of developing more humility, let's start by humbling ourselves before God and acknowledging that we cannot change our hearts on our own. Pray your own prayer for humility or pray the following:  “Dear God, thank You that I am alive. Thank you for your mercy that allowed me to have a relationship with You, though I don't deserve it. Thank you that any good qualities in my life are because Your grace allowed it. I appreciate that I have the privilege to know You, the owner and main character of life. Please forgive me for all forms of pride. I realize there is nothing I can do to change the pride in my heart without Your help. Please prune pride from it's root along with all the variations of pride that have branched out of my heart and into my life. Please help me develop a heart that is totally humble before You, Your Word and every other person. Amen.”