I read it in one sitting and when I reached the end, my heart just ached. The conviction and fresh clarity had kind of hit me over the head. One notable writer said that when she finished it, she could only sit there and weep.
The book is about humility, or "self-forgetfulness" as Keller memorably terms it. He writes:
The book is about humility, or "self-forgetfulness" as Keller memorably terms it. He writes:
"True gospel-humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation, with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself. The freedom of self-forgetfulness. The blessed rest only self-forgetfulness brings."
Providentially, Dad preached yesterday on 1 Peter 5:5-6. His sermon was titled, simply and appropriately, "Humility." Here's the passage:
Providentially, Dad preached yesterday on 1 Peter 5:5-6. His sermon was titled, simply and appropriately, "Humility." Here's the passage:
"Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you."
One of the points Dad really pressed was that humility is fueled by God's grace. The only reason we can ever unfix our eyes from ourselves, the only reason we can be "self-forgetful" as Keller would say, even for a second, is because of God's glorious, free, undeserved favor.
I want to be more humble. I really, really do. Tim Keller and my dad both recently reminded me of this. Humility is a key calling for God's children.
So the task before me today is to stop thinking of myself. Just think of something else, someone else. Just stop thinking about me. Pride breeds an obsessive self focus that inevitably blinds me to empathy, compassion, and the people around me. It blinds me to good works.
So I have to ask God for humility. Then I need to choose it. Choose it and, in so doing, forget about myself.