Humility

We spoke in class Wednesday night about the armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:10-18. It struck me as odd that humility wasn’t one of the pieces of armor. Humility isn’t listed among the fruits of the Spirit, either. Yet, as I’ve grown in Christ, my awareness of my dependence and my indebtedness is becoming stronger and stronger. I’m not saying I’ve mastered the grace of humility, or even that I’m especially good at it. Just that I’ve come to value it more and more.
We love the imagery of the armor of God. Martial and extravagant, it inspires courage and strength as we picture a brave knight advancing toward entrenched evil. Certainly, no one should face this world without his armor. But maybe something needs to go on before the armor. The armor is very public: the realm of the town, the market square, and the arena. But the things under the armor are the realm of the private prayer closet, the retreat, and the wilderness.
A knight would never start pulling on pieces of armor without the prerequisite padding and undergarments. According to Answers.com, early medieval knights wore a padded garment called a gambeson under their armor. Made from strong linen, and padded with wool or flax, the gambeson had cords, called points, sewn into the shoulders, elbows, and other areas. Armor plates (including the breastplate) were attached to the gambeson by these points.
Could it be that humility is one of the necessary underthings that makes our armor bearable?
Colossians 3:12 says we are to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 1 Peter 5:5 also instructs us to clothe ourselves with humility.
We are shown an amazing depiction of humility in Jesus’ life and work. …being in very nature God, [Jesus] did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant… (Philippians 2:6-7).
Humility is becoming more and more comfortable as I walk along. And the Bible is full of it:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
-If a man can receive only what is given him from heaven (John 3:27), and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6);
-If we all, like sheep, have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6), and there is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10);
-If, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8);
-If the Lord requires us to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8);
-If we who were not a people have been sought and bought and have received mercy and been made the people of God (1 Peter 210);
…should we not wrap ourselves in humility and gratitude before trying to fit our feet with the readiness of the gospel or even drawing the sword of truth?
After all, it’s his righteousness I want to wear;
It is faith in him by which we extinguish Satan’s flaming arrows;
It is his gospel we proclaim;
It’s his salvation with which we are crowned;
And it’s his truth that ties it all together.