Learning humility

14 Oct 2021 • From Bishop Richard Jackson

In this week's video, Bishop Richard explores the Christian virtue of humility.

He says: 'In Jesus we see, not God in disguise, with the real God a grumpy man with a sharp stick, but God in his very essence.  God in his essence is self-giving love, eternally giving himself for the good of his creation.'

'Jesus teaches us that the route to life in all its fullness lies precisely in this same self-giving.  "Remember the lilies of the field, they neither labour nor spin, but not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these."  This isn’t a self-giving which is a form of masochism, but rooted in trust.  This is a trust that our relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit really does provide all we need for our psychological, emotional and spiritual well-being.  In that trust we are freed from the need for aggressive self-assertion; freed from the need for the subtle manipulation that seeks to draw from others what we feel is lacking in ourselves; freed from the insecurity in our own worth that causes us to project ourselves as people of status or wealth; freed just to be who God has made us to be; and freed to be loved as only God can love us.'

'[Archbishop] William Temple said that humility was not so much to think too little of ourselves, but not to think too much of ourselves at all.  Fortunately, God in Christ thought enough of us to die for us, and that truth – embraced, celebrated and entered into – is enough.'

A full transcript of this week's video is available here. For other transcripts, visit the Bishop of Hereford's Message section of the diocesan website.