By: Justin Dillenschneider, Director of Student Life
Week of April 18th, 2022
Humility can be defined as the feeling or attitude that you have no special importance or entitlement to anything more than you currently have. As the Lenten season closes and we celebrate Resurrection Sunday and the period in between Easter and Pentecost, humility is an apt virtue for us to discuss. Jesus is the ultimate example of humility; he set aside all of the full power of his divinity and gave himself up as a sacrificial lamb on our behalf. C.S. Lewis is famously quoted as saying “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, its thinking of yourself less.” Christ-like humility is realizing that all things are about God receiving the glory rather than trying to garner position, authority, and honor for ourselves. God resists the proud because they attempt to put themselves on a throne that is only meant to be occupied by God himself. Humility is the disciplined practice of praising God on His rightful throne and honoring Him rather than ourselves.
Continue contemplating humility by looking at this week’s scripture reading from:
1 Peter 5:5-7 CSB
“5 In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble., 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.”
We want to encourage you to have a conversation this week about the virtue of humility.
Consider these discussion prompts together:
- What tempts you to fall into degrading others or yourself?
- Where have you seen people fall into pride? Where are you tempted to do so?
- What are some ways you see Christ correcting degrading or prideful behavior in people in Scripture?
- How do we see the apostles and the early church modeling and celebrating humility in their words and actions?