I was listening to Piper preach on spiritual gifts from Romans 12, and I was struck by how Christ-centered his definition of humility was:
"This is the meaning of Christian humility. It is a kind of self-forgetfulness produced by treasuring Christ. The Christian alternative to thinking too highly of ourselves is mainly to think highly of Christ. Thinking about ourselves will produce pride or despair. And both are forms of unbelief. The gospel alternative to pride is not mere self-condemnation, but Christ-exaltation. The Christian triumph over pride is faith in Christ."
I like that he says that mere self-condemnation is not the alternative to pride, because thinking of ourselves, whether well or not, is still a self-oriented effort. True Christian humility is a Spirit-wrought fruit that comes from Christ-exalting truth.
AMEN to that. I love that. Not self-condemnation, but Christ-exaltation. I'm totally convinced by Scripture that humility is not putting ourselves down, since that's usually done in false-humility, but exalting Christ to the highest place, and lifting up others above ourselves. That's how Paul teaches it in Philippians 2.
2 comments:
I was listening to Piper preach on spiritual gifts from Romans 12, and I was struck by how Christ-centered his definition of humility was:
"This is the meaning of Christian humility. It is a kind of self-forgetfulness produced by treasuring Christ. The Christian alternative to thinking too highly of ourselves is mainly to think highly of Christ. Thinking about ourselves will produce pride or despair. And both are forms of unbelief. The gospel alternative to pride is not mere self-condemnation, but Christ-exaltation. The Christian triumph over pride is faith in Christ."
I like that he says that mere self-condemnation is not the alternative to pride, because thinking of ourselves, whether well or not, is still a self-oriented effort. True Christian humility is a Spirit-wrought fruit that comes from Christ-exalting truth.
AMEN to that. I love that. Not self-condemnation, but Christ-exaltation. I'm totally convinced by Scripture that humility is not putting ourselves down, since that's usually done in false-humility, but exalting Christ to the highest place, and lifting up others above ourselves. That's how Paul teaches it in Philippians 2.
Thanks Steve, for sharing the quote!
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