Humble Joy
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
— Philippians 2:3
While living in Austin, I watched my Longhorns thump another team by 40+ points. A linebacker on the opposing team celebrated a tackle late in the game — yes, with his team losing by a massive margin. He made the hit and bounced up into a dancing, fist-pumping, chest-thumping display of personal machismo and power. The scene was almost comedic: a personal victory inside a team disaster. But that’s where we are as a culture. Self-celebration is the norm. Even in defeat, we can’t resist the spotlight.
Call me old-fashioned, but there was a time when modesty wasn’t mocked. There was a generation—before mine—that believed in dignity, restraint, and silence over spectacle. The idea of a “selfie” wouldn’t have just been foreign—it would’ve been embarrassing. And to be honest, no matter how good your selfie looks, no one looks good taking a selfie.
We’re living in a world where pride isn’t just tolerated—it’s rewarded. Where the highest goal is to be seen, heard, praised. But the Gospel pushes against this tidal wave of self-worship with something radically different: humility.
Pride: The Sin Behind Every Sin
If God is love, what does love hate? According to Scripture, plenty. Proverbs 6 tells us there are seven things God finds abominable, and topping that list is pride: “haughty eyes.” Proverbs 8:13 doubles down:
“Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth I hate.”
Pride isn’t a quirk or a character flaw. It’s the operating system of sin itself. It was pride that turned angels into devils. Pride that pulled Adam and Eve into ruin. Pride turned order into chaos, life into death, and paradise into a desert. Pride infects everything from personal relationships to global politics and yields its ugly fruit of discord and disaster.
Underneath our restlessness, our outrage, our anxiety—there’s pride: self-assertion, self-seeking, self-worship, self-reliance.
Pride whispers:
“You don’t need help.”
“You’re better than them.”
“You deserve more.”
And we believe it.
According to Solomon, the number one thing God hates is pride, what he calls “haughty eyes.” He repeats that in Proverbs 16:5 - “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord…” In Proverbs 21:4, God calls Pride “the lamp of the wicked.” That means pride and arrogance are the guiding light, the animating principle of evil, of sin.
Humility: The Virtue Behind Every Virtue
In contrast, humility was no virtue in the Roman world. The city of Philippi, where Paul wrote this letter, had no use for humility. It was a badge of weakness. The Roman way was victory, honor, and status.
But the Kingdom of God turns everything upside down. In God’s economy, humility isn’t weakness—it’s the foundation of strength. You can’t even begin to follow Jesus without it.
Humility starts with a right view of God, and that leads to a right view of self. As David Mathis puts it,
“Humility entails a right view of self, as created by and accountable to God.”
Here’s the problem: Many of us want a God we can use, not a God we must obey. We want Him on call for blessings, not on the throne demanding surrender. As theologian David Wells warned,
“We transform the God of mercy into a God who is at our mercy.”
The result? “A church culture where God is too distant, His truth too soft, and His people too proud.”
We’ve become, in many corners, a Church of “First Narcissist”—narcissistic pastors leading narcissistic congregations. And if we don’t know who God is, we certainly won’t know who we are. And if we don’t know who we are, how can we possibly reflect Christ to the world?
The Call to Humility
Paul writes in Philippians 2:1–4 that if we have any encouragement from Christ, any comfort from love, any fellowship in the Spirit, then our lives should reflect that unity. That humility.
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
That’s not a suggestion—it’s a command. And it’s not possible without spiritual clarity. You’ve got to see God rightly, and you’ve got to see yourself rightly.
Peter wrote that we are all to “clothe” ourselves with humility, that word referring to an apron slaves wore to perform menial, lowly tasks. We need to put on the “apron of humility” (1 Peter 5), just as Christ did when He washed His disciples’ feet. That’s the posture Paul urges us to embrace.
Jesus didn’t say, “Come to me, all you who are confident and crushing it.” He said,
“I am gentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29).
He doesn’t crush the weak—He lifts them.
The Pattern of Christ
Then Paul lays out the ultimate example. In verses 5–8, he gives us the mindset of Christ—not just what Jesus did, but how He thought.
Christ, though fully God, didn’t cling to status. He emptied Himself. He became a servant. He humbled Himself to death—death on a cross. The shame of it. The pain. The scandal. And He did it willingly.
Let’s be clear: humility isn’t thinking you’re worthless. It’s choosing to make yourself less for the sake of others, even when you are more.
Jesus didn’t lose His identity by stooping low. He revealed it.
He entered Jerusalem humbly, on a donkey.
He exercised authority by washing feet.
He showed power by surrendering to the cross.
That’s what love looks like. That’s what humility does.
One can read it in reverse, imagining the lyric of this ancient hymn about Christ if it had described Adam:
Have not this mind among yourselves, which was in Adam,
who, though made in God’s image and called His son,
did not count beauty a thing to be embraced,
but grasped for equality with God.
He exalted himself,
claiming the glory that was not his,
and became disobedient—
even to the treachery of taking the forbidden.
Therefore God cast him down,
and gave him the name of the fallen:
Dust.
So at the end, every knee bowed to the grave,
and every tongue confessed, “Man is not God,
but a slave to sin and death.
That’s the song of arrogant self-assertion, the lyric of haughtiness, the poetry of death. Life flows from the humble. With Jesus we see the shocking, subversive path to glory.
The Glory That Follows
This is the twist—the paradox at the heart of the Gospel:
“Therefore God has highly exalted Him…” (Phil. 2:9)
Humility leads to honor.
The cross leads to the crown.
Grace flows downhill—but it raises us with Christ in the end.
In the upside-down Kingdom of God, the way up is down.
And here’s where joy enters the picture. Not a fleeting feeling, but a deep-rooted gladness that comes from humility. Envy, bitterness, and conflict all grow from pride. But joy? Joy grows from knowing your place before God—and resting in it.
It’s not about thinking less of yourself. It’s about thinking of yourself less.
That’s the path Jesus walked—and it’s the path to life.
Bow Low to Enter
In Bethlehem, the Church of the Nativity marks the place where Jesus was born. But before you step inside, you have to stoop. Literally. The entrance is just four feet high. It’s called the Door of Humility. No one walks in standing tall—not even kings or presidents.
That’s the Gospel.
To enter into God’s presence, you bow.
To receive grace, you kneel.
To walk with Christ, you surrender.
The world says, “Make your name great.”
God says, “Bow your knee to the name above every name.”
And here’s the promise:
“Whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
“God gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
You don’t climb to God—you bow to Him.
The path to joy runs through the valley of humility. As has been frequently observed, “It’s not about thinking less of yourself, it’s about thinking of yourself less.” And what’s the reward?
Joy.
Real joy.
The kind that doesn’t rise and fall with your likes or followers, your career or reputation.
Pride brings anger, envy, and division, but humility brings joy, unity, and peace.
Final Word
There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who think they don’t need to.
Pride says, “I make my own truth. I make my own god.”
The cross says: “This is what truth looks like—and this is how far God went to save you.”
Humble yourself. Step through the door. There is joy waiting on the other side.