Rooted and Grounded in Humility

Rooted and Grounded in Humility

Only the humble receive grace; God resists the proud. It is only by God’s grace that anything good can be accomplished.

Therefore it is of vital importance to be humble of heart, the very thing Jesus invites us to learn from Him if we come to Him in order to learn.

However, it is with this as with everything else: it can be learned to a greater or lesser degree. Jesus Himself said, “Everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.” Luke 6:40.

Before we can be perfectly trained in humility, we must become rooted and grounded in this exceptionally glorious and exceptionally necessary virtue!

If you are going to put a post in the ground that is meant to stand upright, you have to dig a suitable hole first into which it can be placed. Then (for example) it is filled with stones so that it remains standing as long as there are no powerful storms. However, there will always be powerful storms; consequently, something extra has to be done so that it can always remain standing; therefore wire ropes that are firmly anchored in rock are attached to the post. Then it will remain standing in all storms, from any direction.

Humility means having lowly thoughts about yourself and correspondingly exalted thoughts about God. This is what it means to rely on God’s aid and operation instead of relying on your own human reasoning. This is the complete opposite of arrogance, pride, being wise in your own eyes, being puffed up, conceited, stubborn, and presumptuous.

When you have partaken of a certain amount of humility, you have freed yourself from a corresponding amount of its opposites, and therefore you are usually humble. However, by means of slightly bigger trials, it may become evident that you have failed; as a result, some conceit or stubbornness appears.

By judging ourselves and humbling ourselves, and by learning from Jesus as well as by receiving a far larger portion of humility, we can become rooted and grounded in humility to the extent that we never again fail openly, but can endure in humility in all of life’s storms.

After we have achieved such a glorious result, we can increase in humility all the days of our lives. .

The more humility, the greater the result!