Talk About Humility
How many naturally humble people do you know? The answer is “none.” Human beings don’t come in that flavor; we are instinctive self-promoters. Some of us may be more obvious in our arrogance, but no child is left behind when it comes to inborn sinful pride.
And, yet, finding and choosing humility is absolutely essential. Without it, we cannot come to simple faith in Christ for our salvation. Without it, we cannot live as Jesus did. And without, it we are doomed to remain fools all of our days.
As Solomon put it: “With humility comes wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2)
One important element in raising wise children is to lead them to a right understanding of their own stubborn pride and deep need for humility. So we’ve put together some talking points for this week to help jump start conversations about pride and humility. We hope they’re helpful.
Talking Points
- How would you define pride? Do you think pride is a good or bad thing? Why? [Parent: Emphasize that the kind of pride we’re talking about is bad; it’s the kind of pride that is all about myself.]
- Can you think of some examples of well-known people who seem to be especially prideful? What exactly about them makes them seem prideful or arrogant to you?
- Do you think the world sometimes treats pride and ego and arrogance like it’s a good thing? Can you think of any examples of that kind of attitude?
- Do you think everyone who is rich or successful or famous is automatically prideful or arrogant? Can you think of some examples of leaders or famous people who really seem humble?
- How would you describe what it means to be humble? [Parent: Think about helping your child to define humility as having a right understanding of who we are in comparison to God.]
- Why does it make more sense to compare ourselves to God than to compare ourselves to each other to get a right idea of what kind of people we are? [Parent: We get the best idea of ourselves in comparison to God because He is the absolute perfect standard in every area of life. When we compare ourselves to each other, we are not judging against a worthwhile standard since all humans are sinners and flawed.]
- Rick Warren is quoted as describing humility this way: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” Do you think some people confuse humility with thinking of badly about themselves? Aren’t they still just making everything about themselves?
- Many of the Proverbs in the Bible are written by Solomon, a man who had world-famous wealth and wisdom. Still he said, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”(Proverbs 11:2) Why do you think that’s true?
- How can pride lead to disgrace? What kinds of mistakes do people make when they’re proud? Why do we make those mistakes less frequently when we’re humble?
- One definition of wisdom is, “Understanding life from God’s perspective.” Why would we need to be humble to become wise people?
- Jesus was flat-out perfect in every way, but the Bible tells us that He became a servant to regular people, that He “humbled himself” and even obeyed death. (Philippians 2) Can you think of any people who serve others even though they wouldn’t have to?
- What kind of things help us to see that someone is really humble—and not just “acting” humble? [Parent: Emphasize that humility includes things like asking God for help, expressing gratitude to Him, reading the Bible to see how He wants me to change, taking a real interest in others, and being willing to treat other people as more honorable than myself.]
- What are some real, practical things each of us could do this week to choose humility?
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