What Does it Mean to be Humble?

What Does it Mean to be Humble?

Jam 4:6-10 NIV - But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

I’ve sometimes heard the expression, “The minute you believe yourself humble, you are not.” This is a good general description of humbleness, but what does it really mean to be humble? What does humbleness look like? The Scriptures are very clear that we are to be humble. We are to “humble ourselves before the Lord.” We know that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Clearly humbleness is something we must take very serious as Christians; we must not neglect it.

What, then, does humbleness mean? There are two proficient definitions of humbleness that best describe the word: “Near the ground; not high or lofty; not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; as, a humble cottage” and “Thinking lowly of one's self; claiming little for one's self; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; thinking one's self ill-deserving or unworthy, when judged by the demands of God; lowly; weak; modest” (Noah Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language). The key point here is that humbleness is the lowering of oneself beneath God and beneath others. With that definition, we can begin to imagine how humbleness is carried out. James mentions a few aspects of humbleness that are helpful descriptions of how humbleness looks.

First, humbleness involves submission. It causes us to “submit [ourselves] to God.” If you want to know what it means to be humble, you must understand and execute submission. Submission involves putting the will of God before our own. Submission involves getting one’s shirt dirty—working in what the wealthy would call “peasantry.” If you want to know what submission looks like, look at a missionary in Africa or Asia. Look at the man who visits the sick and elderly in their homes and hospitals. These are the sorts of godly people who have submitted themselves to God’s will. Nothing is beneath them—they are totally dedicated to Christ and to Christ’s message of the Gospel.

Secondly, humbleness involves pursuing God. James says that we are to “come near to God and He will come near to [us].” When a man takes on humbleness, he is led to the Lord. This is because humbleness breaks us and rebuilds us, but the rebuilding makes us aware of our utter and total reliance upon God. We realize just how dependent we are upon Him. Unexpectantly, our humbleness increases through this act of humbleness. It is as if humbleness breeds more humbleness in a process that repeats in a fractal throughout eternity. In our pursuit of God, we will find more humbleness. As we draw closer to Him, He draws closer to us. He sustains us in the midst of our sufferings, joys, fears, doubts, and elation.

Lastly, James teaches us that humbleness causes purification. James tells us to “[w]ash [our] hands, [we] sinners, and purify [our] hearts, [we] double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change [our] laughter to mourning and [our] joy to gloom.” The humble man realizes his own sinful nature, and relies fully on God to purify Him. He sees his weaknesses, and he learns how to submit totally to God to prevent falling into temptation. In this way, the humble man washes his hands and purifies his heart. He knows how to lower himself before God and accept the full grace of Christ Jesus. He fully relies on this grace—it is his life and sustenance.

I hope you will put humbleness into practice. If you have not been very humble, begin to be today. Turn to the Lord. Submit to Him. Allow Him to humble you. Amen.

With love in Christ,



Austin Aldrich