"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time." 1 Peter 5:6
Image courtesy of nstanosheck.blogspot.com
We live in a culture that glorifies, and sometimes seemingly deifies, the individual. Athletes, musicians, celebrities, comedians made larger than life -- often getting caught up in and promoting their own narrative, the hype about them and their greatness. I have arrived. I am the greatest! Pay me homage, World. Show me the money! And then months or years later, we are not surprised to witness the other end of the same narrative, the crash and burn that all too often follows -- as "pride comes before a fall."
But amid this cult of personality, I am regularly encouraged by images, such as the one above, which convey that some very gifted people take cues for their conduct and daily walk from Christ, who said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart..." (Matthew 11:29). So while the world may heap praise on them, such "celebrities" go counter-culture: applying their God-given gifts to the situation at hand earnestly and humbly, as Christ modeled through his ministry, to give immediate credit and praise where it is rightly deserved -- to the Source of all gifts.
For folks like us in less conspicuous walks of life, it might be important to remember that being humble does not mean that someone has a poor self-concept; it's just that he/she is not self-centered. For as C.S. Lewis so rightly pointed out, "Humility is not thinking less of yourself but of thinking of yourself less." Such an orientation bodes well for leaders, as is made evident by John Wooden, perhaps "the greatest" coach of all time in any sport, who led the UCLA men's basketball program to 10 national championships in 12 years, including an unprecedented 7 in a row. But this humble man's comment about all these accomplishments: "It's amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit." That said, it is important to note that Coach Wooden was no shrinking violet. He expected his players to be aggressive; specifically, he expected that, if errors were to occur, that they should be "errors of commission, rather than ones of omission." In other words, while we are not to be arrogant or reckless in application of our gifts, we should apply them with great vigor of heart and soul.
In his classic book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... And Others Don't, Jim Collins found that a key reason for the rare organization of excellence was that it was led by a Level 5 leader, a person who builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical combination of personal humility plus professional will. It took years of dedicated research for Collins to arrive at this important finding. But Christ modeled this over 2000 years ago, and it's what He wants from us.
So how well are you living your gifts with great confidence and vigor, yet with deep humility and gratitude? It's what Jesus would do....
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Dear Lord,
Thank you for bestowing on me Your gifts, both great and small, that align with Your grand purposes. Help me to know my gifts and to share them freely in ways that bring light to this world. May You always strengthen and guide me to share these boldly yet humbly -- and always with great thanks! In Your name, I pray.
Amen.
