Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

I think it’s harder to define humility with succinctness and exactitude. There’s no concise definition that really wraps up what we see in examples of humble people, no few words that can pin down the weight of someone who truly lives in a humble way.

Jesus had the humblest origin of all and died a truly shameful death on the cross but he is the most worthy of glory. However, he did not cling to that, instead putting it aside to take up the work that only he could do. That’s what humility means in practice: putting aside whatever might have been accounted as a credit to us in order to accomplish what really matters. Everything else we use with gratitude as a gift from God.

Ethan Kirl