One of the attributes of Christ is humility. We can see this personified by Saints in the scriptures, as well as by the Savior himself. To better understand how we can develop humility ourselves, let’s first learn what humility is, then look at a tool we can use to put our learnings into practice.
Humility from the Saints
In order to learn to be humble like Christ was, we must first understand what it means to be humble in the scriptural sense. A great example and explanation comes from Alma 32, when Alma is teaching the poor at Onidah. This group had been kicked out of their tabernacles by the richer members because of their destitution. Alma says that their physical burdens had pushed them to be ready to hear the word of God because:
- they are ready to learn from the Lord (Alma 32.12)
- they are ready to make a change, that is, repent (Alma 32.13)
Thus, two important elements of spiritual humility are being ready to learn from the Lord and being willing to change based on what we learn. Now, let’s look at examples of Christ’s behavior to see what other lessons we can learn about humility.
Christ’s Humility
One of the earliest examples of Christ’s humility actually takes place in the premortal existence, in the Council in Heaven, where God presents his plan of salvation. Christ volunteers as our Savior (Moses 4.2), as does Lucifer. What makes Christ stand out, though, is that He directs all of the glory to God despite His own pivotal role. Lucifer wants glory and power and to “exalt [his] throne above the stars of God” (Isaiah 14.13), but Christ eschews vanity and pride, instead taking on this important task with an attitude of meekness. This meekness and lowliness of heart is another key to being humble.
We then see Christ on the earth in the flesh, preparing Himself for his mortal ministry. He approaches John the Baptist and asks to be baptized. John says that Christ has no need to step into the waters of baptism, as He has committed no sin. Christ, though, understands that not only must He set an example for us, but that He must submit to the will and commandments of our Heavenly Father. Thus, submitting to God’s will is being humble.
We can find some other salient examples of Christ submitting to God’s will, too. When Christ teaches The Lord’s Prayer, He makes it very clear that God’s will takes priority:
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6.10)
When Christ is suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane for our sins, pains, and afflictions, He asks that God end that suffering and “let the cup pass … nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26.39).
Submitting to God’s will is probably the most important of the attributes of humility, from which all the others follow.
So, let’s summarize our findings. To be humble, we need to:
- be ready to learn from the Lord
- be ready to repent and change
- be ready to give up pride and praise
- be ready to do God’s will
Now that we know how to prepare ourselves, let’s look at one of the tools that God has provided that can act as a vehicle for our humility.
Christlike Prayer
Looking back on Christ’s ministry, one constant thread was prayer. Christ aligned Himself with Heavenly Father via prayer in everything He did. How, though, does prayer help us be humble? Or, what makes a prayer a Christlike prayer?
While Nephi is reflecting on the death of his father Lehi, he mentions something interesting about prayer.
Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen. (2 Nephi 4.35)
“God will give me, if I ask not amiss”. Here we go, a tip for good prayers! Asking amiss just means asking for the wrong things. So then, how can we know how to ask for the right things? We can find an answer to that a good while later in the Book of Mormon, when Christ visits the Nephites after his resurrection.
Ask not Amiss
Christ and the Nephites are praying after being ministered to by angels. Christ steps away to pray in private, then returns to pray with the disciples again.
And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus prayed unto the Father, he came unto his disciples, and behold, they did still continue, without ceasing, to pray unto him; and they did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray, and they were filled with desire. (3 Nephi 19.24)
There’s an interesting bit! “They did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray”. The disciples were in tune with the Spirit, and the Spirit indicated to them what they should pray for.
This true order of prayer means that our will is aligned with God’s will. Christ even keys us into this in the previous verse:
“I pray … that they may believe in me, that I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be as one” (3 Nephi 19.23).
So when we are in tune with the Spirit, we are in tune with God. The Spirit will prompt us to pray for what God would want.
We can see this principle in action in the book of Enos. Enos heads out to the wilderness to hunt and pours his soul out to God in prayer. After praying for the Nephites, he then prays for the Lamanites, the people that want destroy his people. He asks that God preserve the scriptures for the Lamanites so that they might one day come to a knowledge of the truth.
God answers him, saying:
Thy fathers have also required of me this thing; and it shall be done unto them according to their faith; for their faith was like unto thine. (Enos 1.18)
What do we take from God’s answer? “Look, Enos, your fathers have already asked for this, and I was already going to do it. You didn’t really need to waste time asking.” Not at all! This is actually an incredibly special answer. God is saying, “Enos, you have asked for the same thing your righteous fathers asked of me. They wanted what I want. They were one with me, and so are you.”
Conclusion
Aligning ourselves to God’s will requires humility. We must admit and accept that His plan is better than ours, and we must be ready to make changes in our lives and follow what the Lord commands us. Being humble is for our benefit, not God’s. He wants to bless us. We just need to ask for those blessings He has in store, which the Spirit will prompt us to ask for. And as we listen to the Spirit, we will be guided and purified by it throughout our lives until “we shall see [God] as he is” (1 John 3.2, [[Moroni 7.48]]).