Humility Is Coming to Grips With Our Humanity

Neither perspective nor attitude is formed in a vacuum. They are expressions of deeper realities within us. When a person has an attitude problem, what he or she really has is an arrogance problem. A bad attitude is evidence of a lack of humility. Attitude is an accurate monitor of where we fall on the spectrum of pride and humility. This is why two people can step into the same experience and respond to it so very differently. It's why sometimes we need an attitude adjustment. And violence is no more than arrogance when it doesn't get its way.

When we are most full of ourselves, we are most likely to make fools of ourselves. And when we are full of ourselves we leave no room for God to place in us the very things we need the most. Pride fills up the space where integrity needs to reside. Courage is the strength of heart born out of integrity.

A person of integrity is a person of truth. Yet truth itself is not what forms integrity; rather, it's what informs integrity. Only the teachable heart will embrace whatever truth is needed for the particular moment. If we are not teachable, there will be no transformation. If we are unwilling to listen, we are incapable of learning. That is why Jesus calls us to be disciples and to make disciples. It is the student of life who will learn how to live. And while intelligence, discipline, focus, and determination are all critical to the learning process, another characteristic is even more essential: humility.

Integrity is formed in the heart of the humble. The quest for honor leads us to courage through integrity and to integrity through humility. There is no other path. If you desire the kind of greatness that not only inspires the admiration of others but also leads to genuine friendships and true intimacy, then only the way of humility will do. If all you care about is yourself, then that's all you're going to have.