OK, my friends who are reading this are belly laughing now that Barry Watts would dare write anything about humility. But, let’s think about this together.

Humility isn’t weakness. Power can be humbly expressed, and is when you recognize that you aren’t strong, mighty, or powerful in and of yourself. The power comes through you, not from you. On the other hand, false humility often projects itself when appropriate praise and honor is deflected, when soft weakness is offered where strength is needed, when you hold back when your world (or company, or family, or church) need you to step-up, speak-up, and stand firm.

A pastor friend and I were visiting recently about a professional we both knew who’d come upon some hard times, gotten into some trouble, lost licensure and certification, and ultimately all the family’s substantial income. The pastor said “I don’t sense that (anonymous) has really taken responsibility and repented. I think (anonymous) continues to place blame on others.”

In my own life, I’ve discovered that you can’t ever become something greater than you are, until you are empty of yourself. Until you can stand before God and say with the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah “Woe is me. I am a sinner.” and sing with the saints “Nothing in my hand I bring, only to Thy cross I cling” then you are still full of yourself, and there’s no room for God to work in your life.

Many of us will eventually get empty; either voluntarily, or by violent force. We’ll come to the end of our rope and when we do, then, our usefulness to God begins to bloom. That’s the way it happened with me. My usefulness to God was limited when I was a clergyman because I was terribly insecure and felt that I needed to protect myself. I wasn’t honest and real, because I feared what people would think of me. When I reached the end of my own rope and embraced emotionally what I knew intellectually—that God loved me because He was good, not because I was impressive—then I grew very comfortably in my own skin, no longer needed to impress, and found myself in an open and teachable frame of mind. That’s when God opened His rich truths to me and I began to grow and become what God wanted me to be all along: a tool in His hand (remember, the tool doesn’t get credit for the masterpiece, the craftsman does).

Humility is required for learning. I’ve discovered that people who need to speak can’t listen and who need to teach can’t learn. It takes humility to be quiet, to learn, to consider ideas to which you may at first want to react negatively. It is humility to stand before someone and say “please teach me what you know.”

Ultimately, you and I can either be full of ourselves, and there’ll never be room for the greater things in our life. Or we can quiet ourselves, open our heart and mind, learn, stretch, grow, develop, and become effective in our living—a person truly worth knowing.

Don’t let your ego get in the way of your progress.