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The Size of Humility

Size and humility are usually not thought of together unless it’s in the thought, “Someone needs to cut that guy down to size!” But I have another reason for associating size with humility.

In my North Dakota home in 1962, Phil and Louie Palermo were celebrities. They were short and stout men from a large immigrant family from Italy. They were well known for their ”Spaghetti Spectaculars,” but our family loved them especially for their lively music. Phil would play the guitar and Louie the accordion while they sang with joy the songs of Jesus. [i]

Louie and his wife Jeanne served the Lord for 46 years along with his brother, Phil, and his wife Edie, as traveling evangelists with Youth for Christ. They appeared at Billy Graham Crusades, traveled to churches throughout the United States, as well as 55 different countries, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ as the ”Apostles of Cheer.”

So, why would they come to the northeast corner of North Dakota, a place as remote as the Antarctica in the minds of most?

In God’s economy it was partly due to the need to teach a 12-year-old, chubby preacher’s kid the grace of humility—rather, the grace of choosing to be humble even if it looks shameful to others.

Perhaps you know how touchy junior high kids can be, and also, how mean to one another. The winter before the Palermo visit I had a severe broken leg that put me in a full leg cast for six months. During that long winter I gained a lot of weight and became very self-conscious. When my family went to our small-town diner for a pizza and I hobbled in on crutches, three teenage girls a bit older than me made fun of my clumsiness in navigating the distance to our table. With giggles they suggested that a whale could have done better. A huge sense of shame settled on my heart.

Soon after that night, God sent the Palermo brothers to town. The night of their concert was a wicked night of heavy, icy rain. Because dad knew them personally our family had enjoyed time with them beforehand and I noticed how happy they seemed in spite of the weather in the smallness of our town. Perhaps that was in sharp contrast to my own unhappiness.

When we arrived at the school gym for their much-anticipated concert the parking lot was full of cars—and mud puddles. That’s when God’s plan to give me a lesson in Christlike humility happened.

A huge puddle stood between me and the sidewalk to the gym. I stopped, a bundle of self-conscious shame in front of all those people coming in. But Louie didn’t stop to pity me. Instead, he bent down in front of me and insisted on giving me a piggyback ride across the pond of mud in front of us. This was Louie, in his stage-ready suit and carrying his beloved accordion. This was Louie, no taller and probably wider around the middle than me.

The CHOICE of humility is to let go of pride and serve

Is the only way to be humbled to be put down or made to feel ashamed?

Louie insisted. I let go of my pride. Louie carried me. He took no notice of others staring. He laughed at the predicament. In that ride across the mud, I learned the true meaning of humility. It was humbling for me and my crutches to get the ride but far more humbling for Louie Palermo to give me that ride.

In this posting I could go on to speak of Louie Palermo and I do want to honor his service to me. He was God’s servant to a confused, hurt 12-year-old. But I also have to go on to talk about the Lord Jesus, the one from whom Louie learned his extraordinary humility – the One Louie and I since have learned is the truest and best source of this amazing grace. (See Matthew 11:28-30; Mark 8:34-38)

The CHOICE of humility is not humiliation but love

No doubt God can use unwanted, humiliating experiences to work humility into our lives, but there’s another way that seems to be what God would choose for us. It’s the way of CHOICE that Jesus took.

The Lord Jesus chose to humble himself out of love for our Heavenly Father, and for each of us—no matter what the cost. I have learned that to make this good choice we need clarity on what our options are and an understanding of the true cost of that choice. Jesus’ life is the best source for having clarity on the options before us, the joy and wisdom of choosing humility like he did, and the cost that we will pay in a sin-laden world for that choice.

C.S. Lewis once wisely said that “humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.” But why would one ever do that, if not for the choice to be humble like Jesus?

If we humble ourselves to appear more likeable to others and get along better with others, isn’t that still serving ourselves and a pride trap?

In biblical Christianity humility is…

In biblical Christianity humility is the surrender of self-interest to the point where we approach every life experience as an opportunity to make the most of Christ and his purposes for us, not to make the most of the situation for ourselves. [ii] Biblical, Christlike humility is based on having an honest, accurate understanding of our strengths and weaknesses as gifted by God and at the same time CHOOSING consistently to put Jesus and others ahead of ourselves so that we can love them as Christ has loved us.

We all want to be noticed and appreciated. We all want our life to matter—to count for something. Can we want those things and not be prideful? Can we give up those things and not live in shame because we are the one that at the end of the day “doesn’t measure up”?

Yes! but the question that must be settled is to whom and to what we CHOOSE to give our life. Is becoming humble like Christ more important to us than feeling important or having influence over others?

The CHOICE of humility is a life purpose that creates within us the image of Jesus Christ

It can hurt to put ourselves last, to give our lives away like Jesus did, for the sake of another.

There is a cost to humility that is called the “Way of the Cross.” Out of love for Jesus Christ, we follow Him and want to be toward others the way He has been with us. We choose with joy to do nothing from selfish ambition (one-upmanship) or conceit (considering ourselves more worthy), and in humility look not only to our own interest, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:1-11) And like Louie Palermo, we don’t care what others think about our choosing a low road of sacrificial love. Like Louie we laugh at the predicament and insist that we are here to carry whatever we can of the burden weighing down our friend’s heart and life.

For some, the cost of such a life choice is too high.

There’s a whole lot of pride to overcome and it can be a daily challenge for a lifetime. [iii] We live in an age of narcissism that says the best life is when I am the first, the best, the most important, the most noticed and the most admired. The high cost of choosing humility over being any of those things is the loss of those things—because of who we become in character and where we find our joy.

Did Louie Palermo become the humble guy he was when we arrived at that mud puddle in N.Dak.? Or was he becoming that humble guy on the way to that mud puddle that God had appointed for the two of us by a multitude of wise choices to put Jesus and others first?

A lifetime of choices leading us to humility like Jesus Christ is the way of wisdom.

The CHOICE of humility is the wisdom of Jesus Christ

“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” James 3:13-18 NIV

[i] Palermo music (much of it borrowed from Stuart Hamblen) I loved as a boy:

[ii] Christlike humility is based on having an honest, accurate understanding of our strengths and weaknesses as gifted by God and at the same time CHOOSING consistently to put Jesus and others ahead of ourselves so that we can love them as Christ has loved us.

“Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” Romans 12:3-5 NLT

“The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:7-11 ESV

[iii] God hates haughty eyes and detests the proud of heart (Proverbs 6:16; 16:5)…

“There are many different faces of pride.  Pride is an overestimation of our own status.  Pride of knowledge.  Even worse:  pride of biblical knowledge.  Pride of religion.  Pride of politics – sense of superiority over one’s political position that results in dehumanizing the other person. Pride of ignorance – overestimating one’s actual grasp of facts or wisdom.  Pride of moral superiority.  Pride of blindness – blind to one’s own faults.  Pride of higher status.  Pride of competition.  Pride of toughness (physically beat people up, talk macho, I put him in his place, I really gave it to him, no one pushes me around).  Pride of ambition.  Pride of greed.  Pride of lust.  Pride of appearance (clothing, possessions, looks).  Pride of self-determination and being my own highest authority.  Pride of self-righteousness or self-justification where “I’m always right, I’m never wrong.  What I’m doing isn’t wrong, I can do this or act like this.”  Pride of victimhood, and its cousins Pride of self-pity, pride of bitterness and resentment. Pride of unforgiveness.  Pride of selfishness, only ever thinking of ourself.  Pride of stubbornness.  Pride of ungratefulness.  Pride of entitlement and its cousins The pride of Jealousy and envy and coveting.   There is legitimate & illegitimate entitlement  (1 Cor 6 not suing each other, Php 4 not demanding your rights).

“Pride is so strongly related to insecurity that I would say insecurity causes pride.  Pride is a cover up.  Like Adam and Eve covered up with fig leaves after sinning and feeling shame, pride covers up any fear, weakness and insecurity we have.  Insecurity is the breeding ground of pride.  The deeper sense of our insecurities we have the greater pride becomes – if we don’t respond humbly to those insecurities.  We feel weak and unattractive as a person over something about ourselves so we compensate by focusing on and drawing attention to something about us that we think makes us feel stronger, superior, and overall better.  The tough talker actually feels tiny inside.  The moral champion up on their high horse is hiding their moral repugnance by trying so hard to see everyone else as morally beneath them.  We all have insecurities and weaknesses.  Let us respond to them not with pride, but humility.” –– Justin Smith (The Wisdom Of Humility (Proverbs 11:2))

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