Real Humility

S. SEKOU ABODUNRIN


And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Matthew 23:12

The words we read in the verse above have a certain ring of truth to them. We can learn a lot from its message in our day. The Lord Jesus Christ helps us understand that exaltation of the real sort comes only from humility. As with all that the master says, there is the letter of the word and there is a spirit [intent] behind it.

The Lord Jesus said that his words are spirit and are life. His intent is spiritual in nature. You also realise that the word instructs us that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit for they are foolishness unto him.

But I thought it is God’s job

You could also gain more insight about this from the way James said it …. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God ….. there you have it again – it is your job to ensure that your heart walks in humility. You see, there are two types of exaltation. The exaltation that comes from man alone and the exaltation that comes from God. God wants to exalt you. The exaltation that comes from God will still involve men, but its origin is not man.

Men tend to reward us based on factors that are mostly external. You can understand why men will do that, its because we often can only go by that which is seen. Do not confuse this for the exaltation that God brings. Often a man can “micro-wave” his exaltation by dancing to the tunes and politicking of men, you become a smooth player and get “rewarded” for your skill.

God’s system is different. God doesn’t reward skill – he rewards faithfulness. Faithfulness if firstly a thing of a heart that’s consumed with God himself. This heart will translate into visible action, but transcends actions alone. Often we act solely driven by a need to be at the top, often forgetting that the top is really understanding how to be complete in God’s provision for us – learning to abound and be abased with all joy.

Think about this, since he that shall humble himself shall be exalted then it stands true that you have a great say in when the exaltation becomes manifest in your life. The exaltation doesn’t happen automatically. You notice that it is not really the job of God or the Holy Spirit to make or keep you humble – that’s your responsibility.

Some of what we glory in, as exaltation is really an abortion of God’s proven system of exaltation. The Father God says to humble yourself under his mighty hand, then in due time exaltation becomes manifest. God doesn’t determine this due time, you do. How? It’s largely a thing of how long it takes us to walk in scriptural humility. For some it comes a little easier for they have learnt to stay true to God in the hard places and to labour against the flesh and its persuasions. It is very much like carrying a pregnancy – you can abort it or carry it to full term.

The instruction that the Lord Jesus gave runs contrary to current logic. We often think that the way to exaltation is to actually “help” everyone to see that we are some important personages, so we assert our wills over fellow brethren and “throw our weight around” largely playing a subtle game of “we” versus “them”.


Scriptural law says that when I actually seek to exalt myself I will be abased. Maybe rephrasing that will help a little. In simple terms it says that if what you have at the back of your mind is exaltation you will not get exalted. You get it now?

You see, all things lie exposed to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Men see our external attempts at “humility”, but the word pierces into the thoughts and intents of the heart. If my actions portray humility, but my thought and reasoning is really focused on the opportunity to get promotion so we gain exaltation over others the reasoning will undo the “good” acts and the rule of God’s word stands – exaltation flows from humility.

Using humility?

Sometime we become experts at hiding our true intentions and masking it by appearing to be “humble”. You know you can become so humble you become proud about it. What we really want is “exaltation” so we play a game of “humility” – it is not really of the heart, just scheming hiding behind a garb of spirituality.

We have all played that game before you know.

You just finished delivering an impactful teaching or perhaps leading the assembly in worship and you know it, but when people approach you something else takes over. There is a deep need to have people tell you that it is great, but you have been schooled not to show it. Instead you say “I was just stumbling along in that sermon, I am sure I made a mess of it all” the other party quickly says “oh no! That was superb!” inside you are stirred beyond words, but instead of saying truthfully “ I was hoping you’d say that” you say something that appears to belittle you. On and on it goes. You have mastered how to manoeuvre people into singing your praise without appearing to like it. The other party leaves thinking “what a gentleman” you can guess the rest ….

In simple terms you were more consumed with getting approval from the people and having their endorsement than you were interested in actual ministration from a servant’s heart. That is a subtle case of “using” humility to draw exaltation before others. We don’t use humility. We retain that ornament of a quiet and meek spirit, which before God is of great price.

Think of what would have happened if in the “you-must-compliment-me” game above the other party had agreed with you that you really stumbled along. Suddenly you view that brother as hostile whereas all he has done was agree with your assessment of yourself.

You have a servant’s heart – never let it go. Within you this is deep-seated, but you will need to bring it out so you can serve and minister the heart of the Father God to his people. He will promote that.

The flesh has its reasonings, its sway and persuasions - but there is something about you labouring against the flesh in these heart matters until you learn the mind of the spirit.

Remain submerged in glory