My Sacrament Meeting Talk on Humility

I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to learn about humility this week, in preparation for this talk. It has literally been a humbling experience, as I have tried to turn this over to Heavenly Father. I have really struggled in the past with giving talks – I get very nervous and apprehensive, and I worry a lot about saying the right things. It is usually a very stressful experience, to say the least. As I have studied humility this week, I have learned that to be humble is to depend on God, and the desire to submit to his will. Every time I have felt nervous or apprehensive or any unpleasant feeling associated with this talk today, I have said a prayer and asked for Heavenly Father’s help, and turned it over to Him. And I know that as I have done this, He has blessed me with His spirit, and a calming peace that has helped me to be excited about sharing this talk and my testimony with you today. I feel that I have been guided to include those things that He would want me to share with you today, and more than anything, I have felt his love and assurance that as I turn over my will and fears and concerns to him, he will strengthen me beyond my own capacity. I hope that I will be able to convey this message to you with the spirit that I have felt in connection with this talk.

What is humility?

- Dependence on God

- Talents and Gifts come from God

- Knowledge of where our strength comes from

Before I started learning about humility, I just thought of it simply as being the opposite of pride. I thought it just meant that if you were humble, then you weren’t egotistical and selfish. While that is true, I have found that humility is much more than that. According to the True to the Faith manual, “To be humble is to recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord—to understand that we have constant need for His support. Humility is an acknowledgment that our talents and abilities are gifts from God. It is not a sign of weakness, timidity, or fear; it is an indication that we know where our true strength lies. We can be both humble and fearless. We can be both humble and courageous.” To be humble is to recognize that all that you have comes from God, and to completely rely on him, and recognize His hand in your life. We must have faith in Him and trust in His plan for us in order to be truly humble. Humility is turning our plans over to God and having faith that he has bigger and better things in store for us that will stretch us and help us grow. We are warned over and over that we need to be humble. Why is having humility so important? I think it is because humility is the antidote to pride.

Pride

Pride is an ugly sin. At its root is enmity or hatred toward God and our fellow man. It is putting our own will and selfish desires above God’s will for us. It is lifting ourselves up by the belittling of others.

C. S. Lewis says: “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.”

President Benson teaches that pride is the universal sin - that it is a sin that everyone has. I would also venture to say that pride is the root cause of all sin. At the core of every sin, pride is the motivating factor. If humility is the opposite or antidote to pride, and pride is at the root of all sin, then we should try with all our might to develop humility within ourselves so that we can avoid sin in general.

We are given our weaknesses and shortcomings to help us to overcome pride and develop humility. Ether 12:27 says, “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” I have felt the truth of this scripture in my life, as I have struggled with various weaknesses in my life. I have a certain little weakness that flares up from time to time. I have often tried to work on overcoming it on my own, but it never works, and I feel worse and worse about it as I struggle on my own. After I am exhausted and have given up hope in myself, I realize my mistake. I have forgotten to humble myself, and ask for the help that I so desperately need. I am driven to my knees, begging for help to overcome this weakness. I am reminded that I am nothing without my Heavenly Father. It is only after this realization, when I have turned my heart to Heavenly Father and asked for his help, that the peace comes and the change begins. It is prideful to think that we have the power to overcome weaknesses on our own, especially when we realize that the whole reason we have weaknesses is to help us to recognize our dependence on Heavenly Father.

Jesus Christ’s example

Christ exemplified humility as he washed his apostle’s feet. It couldn’t have been a pleasant task – their feet were sweaty and covered in dirt, but that made his service all the more sweet. He performed a task that was beneath him, yet he did it with love, demonstrating his perfect humility. Service is an opportunity to cultivate humility – As we sincerely serve others, we are able to develop christlike love and let go of our selfish habits and desires.

King Benjamin taught that we must “[become] as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, and willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us]” (Mosiah 3:19). Christ was the perfect example of this. He submitted His will to that of Heavenly Father, even when it was the hardest for him. In his talk entitled “The Empowerment of Humility,” Bishop Richard C. Edgley says that “Humbly submitting our will to the Father brings us the empowerment of God—the power of humility. It is the power to meet life’s adversities, the power of peace, the power of hope, the power of a heart throbbing with a love for and testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ, even the power of redemption.

To this end, the Savior is our supreme example of the power of humility and submissiveness. After all, His submitting His will to the Father brought about the greatest, and even the most powerful, event in all of history. Perhaps some of the most sacred words in all the scriptures are simply, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).”

I am so grateful for Jesus Christ’s sacrifice – it was a sacrifice of his life and of his will, and so much more. Because of his deeply perfect humility and love for us, we are able to be saved and repent for our own prideful sins.

What can we do to develop humility?

Humility is an essential part of drawing closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We must strive to be humble in order to become more christlike. What can we do to develop humility? Elder Marlin K. Jensen said,

“Consciously trying to acquire humility is problematic. I remember once hearing one of my colleagues in the Seventy say about humility that “if you think you have it, you don’t.” He suggested we should try to develop humility and be sure we didn’t know when we got it, and then we would have it. But if we ever thought we had it, we wouldn’t.”

So, it is kind of a tough quality to develop, because it is hard to measure your progress without becoming prideful! President Ezra Taft Benson, in his talk “Beware of Pride,” counsels us on how to develop humility:

“We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are.

“We can choose to humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement.

We can choose to humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us.

We can choose to humble ourselves by rendering selfless service.

We can choose to humble ourselves by going on missions and preaching the word that can humble others.

We can choose to humble ourselves by getting to the temple more frequently.

We can choose to humble ourselves by confessing and forsaking our sins and being born of God.

We can choose to humble ourselves by loving God, submitting our will to His, and putting Him first in our lives.“

These are wonderful ways that we can cultivate humility. I would add also that we can study humility and what it means to have it so that it becomes more important to us, and we want to develop it. We can pray daily with all the energy of our hearts to develop humility, with gratitude for all that we have.

Blessings will follow

If we are humble Heavenly Father promises to lead us, bless us, teach us, answer our prayers, help us feel our worth. I want to close with the words of the hymn, “Be Thou Humble.” (hymn #130) These words have had a special meaning to me, as they have been running through my mind this week.

“Be Thou Humble in thy weakness, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee

Shall lead thee by the hand and give thee answers to thy prayers

Be thou humble in thy pleading, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee

Shall bless thee with a sweet and calm assurance that He cares.

Be thou humble in thy calling, and the Lord thy God shall teach thee

To serve His children gladly with a pure and gentle love.

Be thou humble in thy longing, and the Lord thy God shall take thee

Shall take thee home at last to ever dwell with Him above.”

I know that if we strive to be humble, we will be happy! When we stop relying on ourselves and looking for the glory of the world, and start relying on Heavenly Father and His glory, we will feel an indescribable sense of peace and joy in our lives.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to speak today – for the personal and spiritual growth that has come as I have tried to turn this over to Heavenly Father.