For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Luke 14:11

Humility is a certain mark of Christian character and virtue. But do we know what humility really is?

Humility is not thinking lower of oneself, but simply not thinking of oneself. Or as C.S. Lewis is purported to have said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.”

True humility is thinking truthfully of oneself. It doesn’t mean that if you are good at something, you insist that you are no good at it. Rather, it is doing what you do to the very best of your ability and not thinking or talking about how well you do this or that. If you are to be complimented, let someone else do it. And rather than responding that you didn’t do a good job, a simple, “thank you,” or “you are very kind,” is sufficient.

Since humility is about being truthful, let us never forget that ultimately how we measure up to Christ’s standard is most important. So, without going on and on about how bad you are, go on and on about how great the Lord is—without unnecessary comment on yourself. After all, we know that many speak of how bad they are as a means of fishing for compliments from those who would happily tell us either that we are not that bad, or even how good we are.

Let us learn also how to pay a person a compliment without crossing the line into flattery, which stokes the fires of pride.

In 1 Peter 5:5-6 the Apostle (making reference to Proverbs 3:34), wrote: “…be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”