Asking God to make me humble is kind of like praying for patience. It is a dangerous thing, but humility is the primary trait of a spiritual leader - and I believe any follower of Christ, so it is not surprising that it is difficult. It is definitely NOT the primary trait in our culture!
I love sports... just ask my wife and kids! I love to play them, I love to watch them, I listen to a radio show that talks about them. I can't seem to get enough of sports. One thing I have noticed is that humility does not reign supreme in athletics. When a player does something good, he beats his chest to call attention to himself. When a coach feels that the referee missed the call, he jumps up and down, yells, sometimes says bad words. Some even have been known to throw a chair! These are NOT acts of humility.
In Philippians 2, Paul tells us what the opposite of humility is. First, it is "selfish ambition" or greed. The drive to accomplish and accumulate for ourselves. It seems that we can never accomplish enough or we can never accumulate enough. I fall into this trap sometimes, but the questions that ring in my ear are, "How much will be enough?" and "Is God not enough for me?" Greed to accomplish or accumulate will derail your spiritual journey very quickly. Instead, we should "look not only to our own interests, but to the interests of others."
The second trait that stand in opposition to humility is "vain conceit" or pride. How easy it is to get caught up with self. We want to be noticed. We want to be liked. We want to be preferred above all others. We want to win. But Peter reminds us that "God opposed the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5). The only things that I have accomplished in my life that matter have been done through the power of the Holy Spirit, and I had little to do with them. If we are going to be humble, we have to "consider others better than ourselves."
Lastly, the desire to for "equality with God" or control deters us from the humble life God calls us to. We like to be in control - to be "God" of our own lives, don't we? I remember when my kids were little, and they would say to their friends, "You're not the boss of me." They didn't like to be told what to do because they wanted to control their own lives. Now at 18, I can see those same wheels turning in my daughter's life when she wants to control every aspect of her life because she is legally an adult. There is some truth to this - Now that she is an adult, I don't have to pay her car insurance, health insurance, and if she gets in trouble with the law, I'm not legally responsible. I'm more than happy to give her control of these areas of her life. But if you want to live in humility, you must surrender control first to God, and then to those you serve. If you are in a position of leadership, you must lead, but do it like Jesus did from a humble position of servanthood.
I don't expect to see humility displayed in sports anytime soon. It goes against its nature. But as followers of Jesus, we must clothe ourselves with humility. Who knows, maybe the world will take notice and turn to God. That would be better than any sporting event!
