“… be clothed with humility:… ” (1 Peter 5:5).
No garment is more becoming to the child of God than the gracious garment of humility, and none is better styled to please the lover of our sou ls.
Humility will save you from self-consciousness. It will take away from you the shadow of yourself and the constant sense of your own importance. It will save you from self-assertion and from thrusting your own personality upon the thoughts and the attention of others. It will save you from the desire of display, from being prominent, from occupying the center of the stage, from being the object of conversation and attention. It will save you from vanity about your personal appearance, your dress, your style of living, or your abilities, or your attractions.
Humility will save you from that which is deeper and more subtle- the pride which docs not care for vain display but which finds its secret satisfaction in one’s own superiority of talents, or birth, or spirituality, or wealth, or success. It will give you that modesty which ” … vaunteth not itself … ” (I Corinthians 13:4), and give you love which “Doth not behave itself unseemly … ” (I Corinthians 13:5); literally, which is not rude, which does not slight others or show its sense of irritation or superiority by rude manners.
Humility takes all that out of us, and makes us unassuming, natural, and simple. It will save you from reviewing your own work after it is done, and from feeling self-complacent because you have done it well; or what is equally vain, chagrin because you did it poorly. The very chagrin shows that you expected something from yourself and, in your vanity and pride, were disappointed. It will save you from looking for flattery and praise from others when your work is done. The humble Christian will simply do his best and leave it with the Lord, and not look for any reward in the plaudits of men; his supreme recompense, the Master praises; what are men? – A.B. Simpson