It’s hard to be humble, not because we don’t have more than enough deficiencies to merit humility, but rather because there’s a crafty mechanism inside us that normally doesn’t let us go to the place of humility. Simply put, as we try to be self-effacing, humble and non-hypocritical, invariably we take pride in that and then, feeling smug about it, we become judgmental of others.
Jesus gave us a wonderful parable on this, but mostly we miss its lesson. We’re all familiar with the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. Jesus tells the story of two men standing before God in prayer. The first, a devout Pharisee, is a man who took the pursuit of virtue seriously. He thanks God that he’s devout and moral, and also thanks God that he’s not as amoral as the Publican who is in the temple with him. The second man recognises (honestly and without any rationalisation) that he is amoral, that he is a sinner and, within that recognition, humbly asks God to forgive him for his weaknesses.
