The United States needs some humility, but God help us if we don’t find it by God’s grace. Humility will come to any people because God loves us, but there is a pleasant way to learn a lesson and a less pleasant way. God help us to find the pleasant way: humbling ourselves before Almighty God.
Humility is not a virtue, but a disposition that allows for all the virtues. Love is the great virtue, but without humility there can be no love: a clanging cymbal is not an object of desire. Pride is the opposite of humility and pride is a precursor to a fall and destruction.
Our English language is splendid, but can be confusing. We have words that mean many different things at once and pride is one of the worst cases. Pride can mean taking pleasure in a good thing, person, or achievement. When a man is proud about a good thing his country has done, freeing enslaved people, he is not being wicked, but doing a godly thing. We give glory to God when we our proud of the good accomplishments of God’s creation.
Confusion about this can lead to Christian dishonesty. Sherlock Holmes comments to Dr. Watson that he does not view “humility” as a virtue because he prefers honesty about his many talents. Holmes is right about his talents and honesty, but he is wrong about humility. Humility is not pretending to be less than what you are, but knowing what you are. Humility is not the handsome man or beautiful woman in the dorm pretending he or she is unattractive: this false humility can be a form of pride (though it may also be a signal of depression). When a rich man says he is “poor,” he lies.
Bad pride is an overvaluing that leads to boasting. A Presidential candidate should not run if he believes himself to be unqualified and part of the job of running will be to point to the qualifications. A healthy sense of self will acknowledge strengths and weaknesses. Fundamentally, the humble man will put his entire self into the big cosmic picture and see his glorious tininess before God’s great plan. The strongest can say: “I am weak, but He is strong.” The smartest: “I am foolish, but He is wise.”
To see all is to acknowledge how many people have been part of everything I have done. Nothing I have accomplished is just mine. As I see The Saint Constantine School grow and flourish, I am aware of sitting and dreaming of such a place, but nothing would have come of that dream if it had not been for the team. Nobody owns any good thing by himself . . . not even a work of art. Any book I have written, even this blog post, ends up being the summation of what a good teacher like Brian Larkin gave me in class (Church History!) or some other writer planted in some hidden corner of my mind.
There may be some genius who has an original idea, but I cannot think of who that person would be. Even a mind like Plato’s ended up writing a conflation
Pride inflates the qualifications or pretends that they are more important than they are. Pride is when a rich man says he is wroth ten billion dollars when he is really worth much less or believing that wealth is a sure sign of virtue. Pride is pretending to have done something oneself (“I built it . . .”) when one was part of a large team. Pride is name dropping, empire building. Pride is a king looking at his city and saying: “Babylon I have built.”
Pride comes before a dangerous madness.
We need to be able to chant “USA! USA!” at moments of true national accomplishment. I remember a time when proper pride in the good things about the United States was in abeyance and Ronald Reagan helping make “love of country” acceptable in polite company. Jingoism however is a swollen love of country . . . good pride turned into the vice of pride. Jingoism says: my country right or wrong. Jingoism cannot see value in other people, places, or ideas.
True patriotism is proud of the work Lincoln did, but ashamed he had to do it. Jingoism shouts “Glory Hallelujah!” while forgetting it is His truth, not our truth, that is marching on.
The problem with writing about true humility is that I am not nearly humble enough. I take too much credit when I should defer praise. I name drop. I forget to include the team into all I do. This Lent I am trying to recall that the heartbeat of a gentleman is to share praise and the soul of a Christian is give God the praise.
All Glory, Laud, and Honor to You Redeemer King.
Let’s make American humble again, beginning with us.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In