One sunny summer afternoon, a young man is out driving around and having fun with friends in his brand new car. Wanting to show how fast the car can go, he speeds down a seemingly empty stretch of highway. Unbeknownst to him, there’s a police officer waiting behind a large bush, on a secret pathway leading to the same road. After speeding past the hidden officer’s car, the young man and his friends are pulled over and asked for the basics: license and registration. While his friend reaches in the glove compartment for the registration, the young man decides to utter a famous catch phrase used by many celebrities — “do you know who I am?” Taken aback by this young man’s arrogance, the officer replied, “No, I don’t know who you are nor do I care.” He then proceeded to issue the young man a court citation and a fine. So, what’s the moral of this story?
Of course, there are many things to point out about this story; however, I want to focus on one. While telling this story to someone, their response was, “Humble thyself or you shall be humbled.” Baffled, I responded, “What does it mean to truly be humbled?” Unfortunately, my comment fell on deaf ears, so I’m extending it to you.
Seriously, can someone please tell me the answer to what it means to truly be humbled?
I should say that I was rather annoyed by the commentator’s outburst. I am sick and tired of hearing people chant about being humble. I find the most non-humblest people of the world are the main ones barking and judging others for not being humble. This very same person who was judging this young man for not showing humility has rarely shown little to none humility themselves. So how can you judge someone else’s level of humility when you are unwilling to judge and admit your own flaws?
Call me crazy, but I’m ready for a new tune to be sung because that humble pie song is getting played out. It’s become so much of an old never-ending , broken record that the personal message of humility has become lost in the sauce. So, again I ask, what does it mean to be humble?
The Bible talks about it a great deal. What stands out to me is the teachings from Christ himself where he shares the very notion and true definition of what it means to have humility.
“When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! “Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.””Luke 14:7-14 NLT.
After reading that passage, I realize that many, including myself, do not ALWAYS exercise humility. At times, I have thrown parties and did not extend an invite to people other than my selected friends and close relatives. I have been around many people, in various settings, and each time I’ve heard the loudest, most prideful, arrogant, self-centered, know-it-all people scold, drag and degrade others for not being as humble as they are. Ridiculously, they’ve made it a competition to see who’s the MVP of the Humility League.
It’s funny to me because I can recall a recent time when I was at my lowest point in life and those same people told me I was not humble enough. While having no money in the bank, no food in my fridge, no job, no drive, lack of confidence, lack of faith and ability to see any light at the end of the tunnel, those same people told me that I was still not humble enough like they were. No matter how little I thought of myself and no matter how high I exalted everyone else, I was still scolded for not being humble. Isn’t it strange how the loudest people who bark about you never do anything to help you out?
It makes absolutely no sense to me that people would rather put you down, discredit you, speak ill of you, keep opportunities from you just because they do not want to see you win. It’s quite sad the societal norms that we live in today.
Now, I’m not here to point fingers at anybody. I’m just trying to shine light on things in hopes that it gets you to think. I believe that there are many discussions that need to be had about the issues surrounding everyday individuals aside from race, class, political, economic, educational statuses. We all fall short in God’s eyes.
There needs to be a depletion of thinking someone’s better than another person and more of an increase in uplifting and empowering one another. There needs to be no more judging of someone based upon their level of humility or anything else that doesn’t fit in the book of ideal perfection.
Nobody is perfect!
Until you reach perfection and truly become God-like, then, and only then, can you speak on what’s in someone else’s heart and mind. So unless your humility level is higher than Christ’s, do not talk to me about anybody else’s.
Sincerely,
A.G.Rogers
(Instagram: @AndreaGees)
A Gees Life 