Second of Lent of Year A
February 2008
Last week I talked about the virtue of Humility.
What it means and what it is based on.
Humility is, simply, accepting the truth about myself and God and basing my life and outlook on that truth.
But in practise humility is a very tricky business indeed.
In practise the only truly humble human being is the newborn child.
It knows nothing of the virtue of humility. It simply lives the virtue. It is totally dependant on others for its every need and accepts this as a simple fact without any hang-ups or rancour. It is totally demanding of those on whom it depends and totally confidant that its needs will be met.
It rests with confidence in the arms of its parents never doubting that its needs will be seen to.
The virtue of gratitude has not yet appeared and may not develop for many, many years.
Gratitude and thankfulness require understanding which can only grow from the soil of humility.
Many Christians work hard at trying to be good. They set themselves certain times for prayer and require themselves to say certain prayers on a regular basis. Some join or start groups which do good and help those in need. I must here state categorically that the above are very good things to do and are highly recommended.
The problem occurs (and often occurs) when the Christian expects these prayers and good works to make them holy.
It is sad to see someone who has, for years, been away from church or who has been very casual about God and religion, suddenly take the whole thing very seriously. You can almost see the steam rise out of them with the vehemence of their prayer and effort. They expect their efforts to produce some tangible results in their life and in their relationship with God. But nothing happens and they lose heart and drift away again.
The problem is that they are trying to grow flowers but have no soil in which to grow them. A relationship with God can only grow in the soil of humility.
They haven’t realised that they are trying to advance spiritually by their own efforts. By the sheer vehemence of their prayers etc. they are hoping for holiness - for a closer relationship with God.
This attitude is doomed to failure because it is not based on truth.
If it were to succeed it would only increase my pride and create an even bigger barrier between God and I.
Remember again the words of Jesus; ‘Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’
So for Lent, let my whole attitude to God be that of the hungry child watching its Mum cooking dinner; able to contribute nothing, but alert and totally confidant that the food will come.