Only Through God Do We Achieve True Humility

JAKE  NOVAK

Two things I am lucky to have are: knowing the difference between jealousy and resentment, and almost always responding with jealous admiration rather than resentment when I encounter impressive human achievement.   Both of these have led me down a winding path to finding and believing in God again in my life.

It may seem odd that witnessing human achievement brings me closer to God, but hear me out.   No matter how great any human’s successes are, eventually we will find flaws in them, sometimes quite terrible, and thus it can give the resentful parts of us a sour grapes-like excuse to disrespect, disregard, or even cast aspersions on those often essential achievements for humanity.

Discrediting great human achievement is also an act of extreme arrogance, which leads to anger and often complacency. Being inspired and challenged by others’ achievements may include some form of jealousy, but hopefully it is the productive kind.   If people are only likely to be inspired by someone or something he or she can’t more easily disparage than try to emulate or supersede, then not much would ever get accomplished.

That is what many of us mean when we talk about God inspiring human greatness.   Only God’s achievements are immune to human disparagement, and that is why they are a gift that keeps on giving to the world.   They inspire further achievement and the humility to realize no one can be expected to truly match God; thus taking some of the pressure off.

To tell you the truth, I am terrified by the thought of a world without some kind of a “humility blocker” against the kind of arrogance it takes to destroy the world.  Self-esteem is important, but too much of it has been a source of great pain in human history.   I once read a study showing that death row inmates in America tend to have a much higher sense of self-esteem than the general population; that doesn’t surprise me.

The easiest, and maybe most pleasant way to experience a God-affirming humility is simply to observe and enjoy His handiwork.   Whether it’s the beauty of a landscape, the love and laughter of an innocent child, or a delicious bite of fruit, if you are not grateful and humbled by the things humans can’t ever hope to replicate completely on our own, then you are missing out on a tremendous amount of what it means to be human.

They say “to err is human,” ... and thus being perfect is not something anyone can achieve no matter how much pressure we often feel to be that way.

Of course, the ultimate humbling factor in life is death.   Whether you believe in God or not, what happens after death is out of our human hands.   But while we are alive, all of the things that should be humbling and teaching us, stand as constant reminders that there is a higher power, even one so humbling to us that we can’t ever begin to know its plan.