Humility sounds good to some in the world, though only when it is applied to others or at times it wants others to think that self is less than proud. While Scripture teaches us that the greatest is the most humble we still prefer to be thought of as humble rather than to obtain true humility. When a church is looking for a pastor, this is largely ignored. They want a man that is educated, has charisma, personality, great speaking ability, and that can deal with people. But all of those things the natural man can have. Despite the fact that a man can be unregenerate and have all of those things, those are what people look for. They want what is impressive rather than what is utterly necessary for spiritual life. The unbelieving man can have each of the above things in abundance, but only the truly humble will love the people enough to teach the hard things. Only the humble pastor can be effective in the things of God. Only the humble pastor can ever preach the Word of God because he will have understanding that the proud man cannot have. So churches are seeking those who are great in the eyes of the world but are at best spiritual midgets. Perhaps they are seeking the man who is perfect on the outside, but in doing so they are seeking men that God is leaving alone. Those who have troubles are those that God is working on through trials.
“When I look back upon my own religious experience, or round upon the Church of Christ in the world, I stand amazed at the thought of how little humility is sought after as the distinguishing feature of the discipleship of Jesus. In preaching and living, in the daily intercourse of the home and social life, in the more special fellowship with Christians, in the direction and performance of work for Christ,-alas! how much proof there is that humility is not esteemed the cardinal virtue, the only root from which the graces can grow, the one indispensable condition of true fellowship with Jesus.” (Andrew Murray)
Perhaps humility is so little sought after because people seek pastors with worldly qualifications rather than spiritual ones. A pastor that is more concerned about his suit and his hair than the depth of his walk with God is not likely to preach the deep things of God. A pastor that is taken with the external and impressive things is not likely to think much on the subject of humility other than how it can be perceived externally. A non-humble pastor will not truly understand the Gospel since pride is opposite to faith (Hab 2:4). A non-humble pastor will not be shown the things of God since “He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way” (Psalm 25:9). Jesus praised the Father for hiding spiritual things from the wise and intelligent and for revealing them to babes. “At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants” (Mat 11:25). Since Jesus does not change it seems unlikely that He is now revealing spiritual things to those who are wise and intelligent in their own eyes. The person that wants to be like Christ needs to seek humility at all cost. The local church that wants to be like Christ needs to seek pastors who are truly humble. If they do not, they may find a man with all the external characteristics but who is a midget in the kingdom if he is in the kingdom at all. It is true; in the nation of Israel they had prophets who were not truly prophets. Today we have ministers who are not truly converted.
I have never read of a conference where the subject matter was on humility. If someone did have one, it would probably be a series of lectures on the subject and people would leave thinking they were humble because they had heard about humility and now they knew what it was. For a person to ever have something of true humility that person must seek it and be willing to suffer to obtain it. For a church to seek true humility it must seek it and be willing to suffer to obtain it. Humility will not come through a lecture or a series of lectures. It will not come by reading a book. It will only be obtained by much inner pain as self is denied and then one dies to self. Psalm 25:9 tells us that God is the one that teaches the humble His way. The way to walk with God is to humbly walk with Him. There is no other way to walk with God. As Micah 6:8 instructs us, “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”
We can at least point to an important connection or correlation. Not many appear to be truly walking with God in our day. Not many churches appear to be walking with God. One reason is that He only walks with the humble. So when we see that not many are seeking true humility, we can know that there is at least a correlation between the two points. God stands in battle alignment against the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). The greatest grace is to have God Himself in our souls, yet He only walks with the humble. Until people and churches learn to seek humility, they will not have it and so will not have the presence of God in their midst.
God Loves... Himself 
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