To walk humbly (Micah 6:8) is an important mandate but commonly misunderstood. It means to acknowledge reality—the reality that we are a mixture of strengths and shortcoming, generosity and meanspiritedness, wisdom and foolishness. True humility is to see things as they really are, to attempt to see ourselves as God sees us. Humility means having a self that is solid enough to look for truth, no matter how unflattering–or how pleasing. Practically, humility means actively looking for the truth in the other’s position, even when we are convinced that there might not be any.
This message is adapted from “On Reconciliation” written by Robert Cotton Fite in the May 1998 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.