This Is Us

While I was going through a rough patch at work a few years ago, I tried a different approach to prayer on my regular runs at the city park.  My life group at the time was facing various personal challenges, so I decided to devote the run time to interceding for those people (and a few others in the church). My regular prayer time could be about me, my family, worship, or ministries where I felt called to serve, but the time on the track had to be just for those other people. 

I figured this would yield two results: first I would be too preoccupied to consider my fatigue or how much farther I had to go, and then I would be forced to take my mind off of my own anxiety. As it happens, my relationship with God felt closer and more alive than it had in years, and my own problems of the time became so inconsequential that they soon fell far behind me. It was transformative to focus on others, and I’ve recently taken up the practice again.

It hadn’t occurred to me that those prayer runs were an act of humility until hearing the message on Sunday. Then, of course, thinking that I was living out a godly virtue without even realizing it made me feel proud of myself, which probably defeats the whole purpose. But that’s OK – if I’m danger of pride I’ll just take another run.

Jeremiah 31:21 tells us to “Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Mark well the path by which you came,” (NLT). We heard about four metrics to consider on the pathway we’re traveling and what makes us ourselves, as children of God.  These were humility, hunger, heart and health. For the purposes of this post, I’m just going to focus on the first one. We have all thought about what humility is not, but how often do we really think about what it is? Moreover, what markers tell us we’re within its boundaries?

C.S. Lewis once wrote that, “Humans have been brought to think that humility means pretty women trying to believe they are ugly and clever men trying to believe they are fools. And since what they are trying to believe may, in some cases, be manifest nonsense, they cannot succeed in believing it and (demons) have the chance of keeping their minds endlessly revolving on themselves.” Even when we are trying to adopt a humble outlook, our thoughts and efforts are focused inward. Instead, humility is the intentional and directed effort to focus on God and others. And while it doesn’t come easy, we are much healthier when we seek humility.

You may not be a runner, and honestly I’m not much of one either, which is why I needed to adopt a distraction technique. But somewhere in your daily routine, you likely do things like cooking, sorting through mail, hitting the weight machines at the gym, or other tasks that don’t require all your concentration. During this time, I would challenge you to ask God how the man you met during the greeting at Sunday service is faring this week, or if he would bless that life group member who is awaiting word of a loved one’s surgery. Some tasks may be better suited to this than others, but you succeed so long as you stop thinking about you. And if you stop trying to be so humble all the time, you just might arrive there now and again by mistake.

Written by: Chad Halcom

Edited by: Tamara Sturdivant