About myself I will not boast, except about my weaknesses. Although if I should wish to boast, I would not be foolish, for I would be telling the truth. But I refrain, so that no one may think more of me than what he sees in me or hears from me because of the abundance of the revelations.

2 Corinthians 12:5-7

 

Does that strike you as pride? Does he sound full of himself? If so, you might be caught in false humility.

False humility

I used to think false humility was a type of lie. I thought falsely humble people were those who thought they were better than others, but pretended they thought they were less. This might be the edge of false humility, but real false humility first deceives the falsely humble person.

False humility causes us to think we are lower than we are. We assume that we are not on the level of any saints who have gone before us. We assume that we are not God’s priority right now. We assume that we are not lovable.

We have the same false standard as the proud man, but we assume we are at the bottom. It is just what the devil wants us to think.

True humility

False humility causes us to judge those with true humility. From the standpoint of false humility, true humility looks like pride.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;
behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
The Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.

Luke 1:46-49

 

Even Mary’s prayer of great humility looks like pride from a human standpoint. Truly, she has it right and we have it wrong. On God’s scale, she is the perfect model of humility, accepting His love and the place on the scale where He has set her. We should do all we can to imitate her.