humiliation

/(h)yo͞oˈmilədē/ noun: 1. a modest opinion of one’s own importance, 2. an absence of pride or self-assertion, 3. To accept, with gratitude, a cup of coffee when you’d prefer tea (or vice versa. Teri’s 2022 definition), 4. The cup of tea you drink after you’ve acquired the taste for humble pie (Teri’s 2023 definition).

I confess I suffer from the self-inflicted wounds of pride. I confess my pride injures those around me. That’s why humility may become an annual tea party on my website in February. God loves me and has dished me up slices of humble pie in so many flavors that God’s recipes make Baskin Robins look like a vanilla ice cream shop. And by His grace, I’ve acquired a taste for this painful pastry that most people detest.

Through God’s chastening, patience, and love, I have learned to embrace the things that keep my pride in check. Have you?

The canyon between humility and humiliation spans the distance between Heaven and hell. These two things are polar opposites. Humiliation is the awful feeling of shame and failure. It is God’s great blow to the arrogant (Psalm 119:21). God humiliates the proud. When He does, there are two responses: sparks of anger, self-justification, and retaliation or contrition and repentance, which is God’s preferred result. God humiliates to produce humility.

Humility, on the other hand, reveals the confidence of the righteous. Humility receives correction with gratitude (Proverbs 12:1 & 15:10). It secures a believer in the fact that God works all things—even humiliating things—for our good. It is the confidence that every trial perfects our patience and equips us to serve others more effectively.

Humiliation may lead to humility, but it is not the same thing. To feel humiliated and never humbled creates a living hell for the arrogant and everyone around them.

Humility knows there are no second-class saints; they don’t view other sinners as less than or unworthy of compassion. The humble realize the seed for every sin rests in their soul; like St. Paul, they claim they are the chief of all sinners ( 1 Timothy 1:15). Christ displayed perfect humility when He laid down His life for us (Romans 5:8).

The humble make peace. The humiliated stir up strife with anger (Proverbs 15:18).

Do we feel humbled or humiliated by degrading circumstances or admonishment? Trust me, if you don’t learn to enjoy humble pie, our Father will keep serving you slices in unending flavors. Take these lessons to heart on Be Humble Day. Let’s not eat any more humble pie than we have to.

To feel humiliated is human.

To be humbled is divine.