When I worked at the American Red Cross, I joined a lunch group that got together once or twice a month to practice public speaking. In my one and only speech before the group, I started out by saying, “Most of my life I have wanted to be perfect. I have come very close, but I still lack humility.” I got the laugh I was going for, but ironically, I stopped attending the luncheon shortly thereafter because I liked my speaking style and didn’t want to change. (See, that’s ironic because to be humble means to be teachable, and I was not being teachable.)
Being humble is one of those attributes that can seem quite elusive as you try to make improvements. How do you improve without recognizing progress? Can you acknowledge progress while being humble? If you say you are humble, then have you just lost some of your humility?
Having a thorn, as Paul puts it, that we just can’t get rid of, helps to keep us humble. I may be able to change some things about myself, but if it were really in my power, I would not still be working on the same problems that have plagued me since my youth.
Seeing the miraculous conversion that takes place over time also helps with the humility. I recognize that some of the things that have changed in me could not have been accomplished through anything I did. I actually stand in awe when I think of the effect the Lord has had on me.
Another part of being humble comes from just realizing how inexplicable God’s power and knowledge are. How is it God knows everything before it happens? How does He know thousands of years in advance exactly what will come to pass? How could He tell the prophets of the Old Testament about the Savior to come, how He would die and even what He would say on the cross? It’s beyond my comprehension.
When David went before Goliath, a young boy with a slingshot and stones facing a giant of a man with armor and heavy weapons, David said he knew he would prevail because he knew the God of Israel would show that He was God. He didn’t go out to face this champion of the Philistines with pride that he was stronger and more courageous than all the Israelite men who had failed to take Goliath’s challenge. He went before the enemy of the Lord’s people with faith that came from being humble and acknowledging that not only was he small and weak before God but so was his enemy. Being humble gave him courage. He knew the outcome did not depend on him.
If we were able to overcome every obstacle in life and resist every temptation and acquire every virtue and always act with perfect faith – well, we can’t, so why go on? None of us is perfect. Imagine we are almost perfect and only fail once to do the right thing. That one act makes us unclean. It separates us from God. Just one little transgression and we are helpless to recover what we have lost - exaltation.
There is only one way to recover it. We must accept the atonement of Jesus Christ. He alone can save us. Only He can undo the damage we have done. Through an act of love and sacrifice that is as incomprehensible as God knowing everything before it happens, the Lord is able to do what no one else can do. Without that act, without Him, we are lost; we are the most pitiful of creatures. When we understand that fact, it is not difficult to be humble.
Nothing we can ever do will make as much difference as what has been done for us by the Savior. Nothing even comes close. The totality of our thoughts, words and deeds do not even move the scale if the atonement is weighted on the other side. When we realize this, all we have left to do is acknowledge, “My God, how great thou art.”
“Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness.” (Alma
Being humble will not only allow us to receive guidance and blessings that make this life easier, but as we live by faith, it will also give us the courage to do what we must do to be happy like Jesus.
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