Humility is a foundational trait for the Christian. Without it, one
can’t enter the kingdom of God (Matt. 5:3). Yet humility does
not come easy. This is why, I believe, God thoroughly instructs
us in His word about how to grow in humility. We need to know
three things about humility if we are to grow in it.

Humility begins with God. When I have a proper understanding
of how great God is (Ps. 8), of how powerful He is (Eccl. 5:2),
and how deep His love goes (Rom. 5:8), I will say, like David,
“Who I am compared to God?” It is a humbling experience even
to grasp a fraction of who God is.

Humility comes by God’s grace. When I understand who God is,
I will also recognize that all that I am and all that I have is
because of Him (Jas. 1:17). Paul understood this point deeply.
Paul was motivated by God’s grace to labor with all he had for
Him. And yet, after all that Paul did, he humbly and readily
confessed that it was God, not Paul, who should get all the credit
(1 Cor. 15:10). He understood who God was and who he was,
resulting in a humble spirit.

Finally, in many places in the Bible, humility is a verb. If we are
to grow in humility, we must be practicing humility. The life of a
Christian is a life spent humbling ourselves under God’s care and
authority (1 Pet. 5:6-7; Jas. 1:21-22). Humbling ourselves
before God should also result in us humbling ourselves to each
other in loving service (1 Pet. 5:5; Phil. 2:3-4).