What Does It Mean To Humble Yourself?

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

What Does It Mean To Humble Yourself?

Often, when people see a verse like this one in 1 Peter 5:6,

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:”

They wonder just what it means to “humble yourself”.

The best answer is to go directly to the source. (Hint, if you don’t have a Strongs concordance or a Bible software package that includes it, it’s VERY much worth the getting.)

Taking a look at the word “Humble” in that verse you’ll see that it’s the Greek word tapeinoo [Strongs number 5013] {pronounced tap-i-no’-o}.

It means to make low, to assign a lower rank or place, to lower, depress, to bring into a humble condition, reduce to meaner (of lesser importance) circumstances

What all these definitions are saying about the word humble is that it means recognizing one’s true place in the scheme of things. It means acknowledging that God is the highest and therefore we must have a lower rank, position, authority, etc. in God’s plan. It does NOT mean that we’re to think of ourselves as worthless, just that we need to remember that WE are NOT the final authority, God is.

For a couple of articles on the subject, check out Humble Pie and The Handy Dandy Screwdriver, a modern parable.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!