I have been thinking and studying about denial of self and humility. It has been said that the fully mature person thinks about others before themselves. They think of themselves below others. Perhaps that is full maturity, because when we are fully mature, we are completed, done, finished, ended, whole. There is no more need for self. But, we are not fully mature, and I think that is not our aim. Our aim is to be always maturing, growing, learning, never done, always immature. The goal is in the reaching, in the journey to maturity, not in maturity itself. I think that humility is knowledge of our humanity, acceptance of who we are, our weaknesses, frailties, our sins. It is not in denial of self but in being human. A verse that is used to proclaim that we give up ourselves is Phillipians 2:6-7. "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing." (NIV) Jesus became nothing in comparison to the fullness of Godhood. What did He become? A human being. How could He make Himself nothing? He knew exactly who He was but did not grasp at it, He did not lord it over others. How do we become nothing? By knowing who we are-whether this be a beloved child of God or an expression of God, and letting it go to be fully human, because that is who we are being right now. The Great Commands said "Love God with your whole heart, whole mind, whole strength, and whole soul." Love God as ourselves, not in denial of ourselves. And guess what? The second command is to love our neighbors AS ourselves. Not above ourselves, not beneath ourselves, AS ourselves. I think that is an important distinction. When we are ourselves, when we love God as ourselves, we can love others as ourselves. That means seeing them as humans. Compassion, compassion, compassion, is what comes to mind when I think of loving others as ourselves, and even, loving ourselves as others. We are not separate. To be humble is to be human together. To be in humiliation is to be debased, denied, and rejected. I did not know until recently that there could actually be joy in God's commands, but they are really just the ways of love. All that is needed for humility is the fulfilled Law, and perhaps "everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial." (1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV, paraphrased.) To be humble is to live in love. I will serve others with my all when I am my all. All of myself goes into God's work. He uses weaknesses as well as strengths. When we have become aware of love, and are living along love's way, when are our wants harmful to others? When are our wants a hazard to human relationships? If we are loving, our wants, our desires, our lives are aligned with beneficiality to others. When we are not loving, when we are "selfish", we are neither loving ourselves nor others. So, I say, don't give yourself away, embrace your entirety, and in doing so, you embrace everyone else.
