Humility is a Christian virtue. One good way to know what humility looks like is to look at Jesus.

When we look at Jesus we see someone who was confident and sure of himself. He did not wallow in self-doubt or pity. He did not count himself as a nobody. What he did was,

 though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death– even death on a cross.

He knew he was chosen by God to achieve the salvation of the world. He knew he was divine. Yet he set aside his privileges. He counted himself nothing for our sakes.

If we had walked up to Jesus and asked, “Are you humble?” how would he have answered? I think he would have answered, “Yes.” How about us? If we are humble can we know it? If we can know it, can we say it? There is a common belief that anyone who says, “I am humble” immediately proves otherwise. Saying, “I am humble” is taken as an act of pride. What ought we to make of this?

When I look at my own life, my perception is that I appear more humble to other people than I do to myself. I’m too aware of my own pride and arrogance to count myself as very humble. Sure I do some humble things from time to time, but I have a long way to go.

If we want to improve our humility, i.e., become more humble, it would be good for us to be in a group of people who are close to us over an extended period time to whom we can tell the truth and from whom we can hear the truth. Most of us are good at deceiving ourselves. If we’re professional Christians, we may also be skilled at deceiving others. But since humility is a virtue worth pursuing, we need some way to do it. Doing it in the company of other sinners who are seeking to follow in the way of Jesus seems to be the best approach.