You might have heard someone say, "I wrote the book Humility And How I Achieved It." Most people, however, would not seriously mention the word humility and their own name in the same sentence. We know that the moment we lay claim to humility it eludes us--rather like this "confession" that appeared in a poem in the magazine Village Voice:

"I felt like a fraud. So I took a full-page ad in the newspaper and confessed to the world that I was a fraud! I read the ad and I thought, A fraud is pretending to be honest."

Humility without pretending--is it possible? Micah 6:8 provides a vital clue. Micah didn't say, "Be humble," or "Walk humbly." He said, "Walk humbly with your God." His advice pointed to the need for faithful dependence on God and looked ahead to our Lord's words, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart" (Mt. 11:29).

Jesus demonstrated humility by walking in total dependence on His Father (Jn. 5:19,30; 8:28) and by serving others (Mt. 20:28). Only as we take up His yoke and walk humbly with the Father will we learn true humility.

Are we humbly depending on God--or just pretending to be humble?  — Joanie Yoder