Matthew 18:4

THE CULTIVATION OF HUMILITY

‘Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’

Matthew 18:4

Mark, it is not ‘be humble,’ it is ‘shall humble himself.’ It implies a process and then a victory. How shall we cultivate this grace?

I. Be sure that you are loved.—We are all inclined to be proud to those whom we think do not like us, and we all can stoop to anything for those of whom we are fond, and of whom we believe they are fond of us. Therefore, the first root of humility is love.

II. Realise yourself the object of great mercy. Take your sorrows as a proof of remembrance, and all your blessings as each a mark of an individual favour to you—for this will endear God to you.

III. Be more reverential in your religion.—In your posture, in your way of kneeling, in your way of addressing God, and speaking about sacred things, in your very voice and manner when you are engaged in what is holy—because if once you can establish the relationship of a true humility to God, it will not be very difficult to go on to be humble to man.

IV. Always try to keep yourself a little child.—Whatever age you are throw yourself back into your own childhood, and be often realising again what you used to think, and what you used to feel, when you were a very little child.

—The Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustration

‘Christ was always a child. Did you ever notice it, that the apostles St. Peter and St. John, speaking—not alone of His infancy, nor of His early years,—but altogether of His whole life and His glory, twice call Him, “the Holy Child Jesus.” The expression is as true as it is remarkable. For observe, that for thirty years—whatever His occupation was—He was at Nazareth with His parents, wholly and only subject to them. And the other three years, beautiful traits of his reverential love to His mother gleam out, as for instance, when He paid such instant and profound obedience to her wish and suggestion at the marriage-feast, in His frequent returns back to the home at Nazareth, and His careful thought of her in His dying hours. And to God, Christ was always the Child. He always knelt, His eye was always upward, He traced all His powers to His Father.’