How important is humility?

 If you and I were asked that question, I suspect we’d all immediately respond that it is very important. And we’d be right—there’s plenty of scriptural proof to back that up.

But what exactly does humility look like? What are the traits of a truly humble person? An article published in 2019 in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin had an interesting analysis of this very question.

Two psychology researchers surveyed over 400 people trying to distill what trait or traits corresponded with genuine humility.

Their conclusion was that it came down to one trait they called “hypo-egoic nonentitlement.”

I read that and immediately wondered, Why can’t highly educated English-speaking people just write in plain English? Even my spellchecker is throwing its little electronic hands up over that word!

What it seems they were trying to say is that truly humble people do not believe they are entitled to special treatment as a person because of their actions or their positive traits.

Further down in the article the authors wrote: “Humility is not about underestimating or downplaying your accomplishments or positive characteristics. Everyone who has studied humility agrees that humble people probably see themselves more accurately than the average person, so they know that they’re good at whatever it is they’re good at.”

I find that quite intriguing, because sometimes in a genuine attempt to be properly humble, we can take the “I am dirt; I am worthless” approach and view that as humility. Granted, there are probably times when we genuinely feel that way, but that probably is not really humility.

The authors went on to add: “Humble people recognize that, their special accomplishments or attributes notwithstanding, they are just like everybody else, with a host of shortcomings, weaknesses, hang-ups, and failures. So, they don’t expect extra attention, interest, favors, or special treatment from other people.”

In essence, what they discovered is that genuine humility isn’t about undervaluing or overvaluing yourself and what you are able to do. It isn’t about deciding you are worthless or that you have nothing valuable to offer. On the other hand, it isn’t believing you are wonderful and everything you do is the best or greatest!

True humility includes recognizing what you are good at (maybe cooking, a trade or music). And it includes recognizing what positive traits you have (like being cheerful, encouraging, generous and positive).

True humility doesn’t try to pretend these things don’t exist—but neither does it allow us to ignore our own shortcomings.

I’ve found this a fascinating line of reasoning, and it sounds more balanced than much of what I’ve seen and even thought myself over the years.

And I think it fits well with the example that we see in Scripture of Jesus Christ and the apostles. While we don’t find them bragging on themselves, neither do we find them denigrating themselves and what they accomplished by the power of God.

Perhaps they already understood this salient point about humility. And perhaps you already grasped this too. But if you are like me, perhaps this will give you something to prayerfully consider this week.