On Humility

God says, "For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3).

How might that kind of humility be developed and fed? After all, because pride is a primary underlying sin for all other sins, humility comes neither naturally or easily.

Jonathan Edwards provides some helpful insight in his eighth resolution —

Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.

In other words, one means to cultivating genuine humility is to recognize that my sin is no less vile than the worst sins of the worst sinner I know — and let that awareness of such vileness produce godly repentance and confession.

Thabiti Anyabwile comments on Edward's resolution by saying,

A recovering Pharisee like me needs that. I need that grace. I need that recognition that I am like them. And I need to be driven to my knees in prayer — for them and for myself — that we might all progress in sanctification.