"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." Philippians 2:3 (ESV)
Humility is one of those interesting "virtues." Often people strive to be humble and end up feeling proud of how humble they are. Or, on the contrary, their humility becomes a sense of self-loathing. Neither is Biblical.
True humility, of course, comes from looking to Christ. By understanding His perfection, we recognize the gravity of our sin and the consequences of it. Yet, by looking at Christ, we see the incredible love our LORD has for us - so great that He sends Jesus to atone for our sin.
In my journey through Lewis' The Screwtape Letters (which I have long since devoured but will continue to share with you), I came across an interesting passage where the "senior demon" is talking to his "young nephew demon" about this issue.
"The Enemy wants to bring the man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another. The Enemy wants him, in the end, to be so free from any bias in his own favour that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly and gratefully as in his neighbour's talents - or in a sunrise, an elephant, or a waterfall. He wants each man, in the long run, to be able to recognise all creatures (even himself) as glorious and excellent things. He wants to kill their animal self-love as soon as possible; but it is His long-term policy, I fear, to restore to them a new kind of self-love - a charity and gratitude for all selves, including their own...." (Lewis, 71).
To be rejoicing in something as much if someone else does it excellently as if I had done it myself.
Wow - that is going to take work, and prayer.
But when we recognize that this world is not all there is (something that has been on my mind a lot lately), that makes perfect sense.
