You must therefore conceal from the patient the true end of Humility. Let him think of it not as self-forgetfulness but as a certain kind of opinion (namely, a low opinion) of his own talents and character…To anticipate the Enemy’s strategy, we must consider His aims…The Enemy wants him, in the end, to be so free from any bias in his own favor that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly and gratefully as in his neighbor’s talents—or in a sunrise, an elephant, or a waterfall…He wants to kill their animal self-love as soon as possible; but it is his long-term policy, I fear, to restore them to a new kind of self-love—a charity and gratitude for all selves, including their own; when they have really learned to love their neighbors as themselves, they will be allowed to love themselves as their neighbors (The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, 2001, p70-72, originally published in 1942).
Screwtape tells Wormwood that their Enemy (which is our God and Father) wants us to pursue the true end of Humility. And this Humility isn’t having a low opinion of your talents and character.
All good things come from God. He is the Vinedresser, Christ is the Vine, and we are the branches. It’s true that we bear the fruit, but only because we abide in Christ the Vine, and only because we are pruned and cared for by our Father the Vinedresser.
True Humility rejoices frankly and gratefully in all good things. Even if those good things come out of us.
Having a low opinion of God’s work in your life is pride. Humility is acknowledging that you are one of God’s good works. And it is rejoicing in that.
What do you think?
Joseph