Self-Made Men

Bobbie Carlyle's "Self-Made Man"

I've been reading through C. J. Mahaney's book Humility: True Greatness with some of my teen guys.  The book is a short little text packed with some incredibly practical statements on humility (surprise).  As we were discussing the last chapter yesterday, I was reminded of the fact that humility is less an action than a characteristic.  It is certainly expressed in action, but is ultimately revealed in attitude.

There's an interesting correlation between humility and greatness, and it's not just a biblical concept.  The idea is that, in order to be great, you first have to be humble.  That's not just a worldly thought - it comes straight from the lips of Jesus in Mark 10: "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all."  Whether that means entering a job at the ground floor, writing articles for free before attaining a salary, or simply being willing to allow somebody else to get the credit, the concept of laboring in obscurity in order to eventually achieve recognition isn't a foreign concept.  Its application takes on a number of different faces.  However, where the biblical and secular definitions part ways is in the motivation factor - the aim of humility and its definition of value.

Almost without exception, people see humility as a tool, not a product.  Humility is used to gain something - the respect of so-called "moral" people, the improvement of relationships, the quiet biding of time while waiting for opportunity to arrive.  Maybe humility is even synonymous with "patience," as though it were a guise that can be taken off as soon as its usefulness has passed.  More or less, it's a quality that serves to benefit the wearer - an additive or a conductor.

However, that's not what Jesus taught.  Jesus taught humility in exclusively selfless terms - humility as a lifestyle, humility as a means of expressing love, humility as recognizing the worth and needs of others above my own

One of the primary reasons we as Americans struggle so profoundly on this point is the fact that we continue to live in the waning shadow of the "American Dream" - AKA the do-it-yourself-and-don't-let-anyone-stop-you-from-trying-and-use-any-means-necessary mentality (for further reading, see Great Gatsby, The).  Furthermore, we've all heard and subscribed to the "self-made" terminology, which comes from a speech given by Frederick Douglas - a man who embodies the very definition he gives:

Self-made men […] are the men who owe little or nothing to birth, relationship, friendly surroundings; to wealth inherited or to early approved means of education; who are what they are, without the aid of any of the favoring conditions by which other men usually rise in the world and achieve great results.

To a degree, we all carry the same mentality.  Whether we grew up in want or plenty, there has always been a need for us to "achieve great results" outside of those things.  There has always been the need to determine our own self-worth, because - although the world owes us nothing - we'll be damned if we don't make them wish they did.  We all feel entitled to greatness, and we all feel the challenge of striving to be recognized amidst the infinite tide of other people all striving for the same thing.  We all want to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and define ourselves in the best possible terms.

However, I would make the argument that biblical humility doesn't provide us the opportunity to be "self-made."

Sorry, fellow Americans, but hear me out.

Self-made men primarily value, above all else, their own sense of personal authority and accomplishment.  In other words, we see ourselves as superior in mentality, focus, and ultimate purpose.  Our mission statement on life is that we have the best methodology figured out.  Christians do this through maintaining a sense of doctrinal superiority (i.e. "If you don't believe in speaking in tongues the way I do, then there is clearly an issue with your understanding of the Scriptures!") and quibbling of preferences in church government, church policies, and even church decoration.  Furthermore, we hold this assumed "right" to independent thinking over the heads of anyone who would challenge our opinion.

However, if we strive to be god-fearing men, we should value teachability above our own opinion (Pro 3.1-8).  Instead of insisting - mentally or otherwise - that everyone should share our view on an issue, we should recognize the potential fallibility of our own thinking.  In striving to be god-fearing men, we should value being swift to hear instead of always speaking our minds (Jas 1.19).  Our thoughts on a topic aren't law, and we shouldn't consider them as such.

Self-made men also expect praise for what they achieve, which is why Paul gives the astute reminder in 1 Corinthians that what we may consider achievements are ultimately blessings from God.  Besides, the kingdom of heaven is about equality – not elevation.  I never quite looked at the "last shall be first/first shall be last" passage (Matt 20.1-16) in quite this way before.  I always thought it was about rewarding the poor and debasing the rich, respectively for the priorities each held during their lives.  But it's really about leveling the playing field.  Heaven, while elevating us to a glorified state, also brings everyone to the same humble stature of worship in the presence of the Father.

Even in the Christian community - I dare say especially in the Christian community - we value praise for our accomplishments.  We want to receive recognition for the ministries we perform.  We want people to know about our spirituality.  I once knew a church that printed and laminated "tithe cards" so that anyone who gave electronically could still put something in the offering plate on Sunday morning, lest anyone seated in the pews behind them think they didn't tithe.  The fact of the matter is that it's not truly worship if that's where our focus is.  We should be content, as Luke 17.10, captures it, to be "unworthy servants" who have only performed "what was our duty.”  Jerry Bridges penned it so succinctly in Respectable Sins: "Are we willing to labor in obscurity, doing our job as unto the Lord, or do we become disgruntled over the lack of recognition?"  The god-fearing man checks his heart in this manner, seeking to give God the glory for anything the Father may accomplish through him and retaining no recognition for himself (2 Cor 12.10).

Self-made men pursue only their own desires.  Maybe that seems like an unfair blanket statement, but we all have an agenda.  Again, this struggle is not only found in the secular community: remember James' warning that quarrels and disagreements are, above all else, the result of the selfish pursuit of passions (Jas 4.1).  In fact, he cites gainful pursuit as the root of all problems in church bodies, and encourages humility as the end which we should seek instead.

Consider King Solomon, once the wisest on earth - not to mention the most humble: when presented with the opportunity to ask God for anything, he chose wisdom instead of riches or prestige.  However, once those things began to come of their own accord, Solomon set off down the path of elevating the pursuit of pleasure over the pursuit of righteousness.

Consider also Ayn Rand, who summed up the objectivist (AKA secular humanism in disguise) viewpoint by its moral purpose - namely the "achievement of your happiness."  She adds the qualification that the goal is happiness as opposed to mindless self-indulgence, because such abstention is the proof "moral integrity" and "loyalty to the achievement of your values."  Maybe what she is describing is reasonable, and maybe this rationalization is where most people fall - living reasonably, pursuing their own well-being but not to the detriment of self or others - and maybe that's a justifiable position to maintain, but it still conflicts with the pursuits of humility, which demands that we give of ourselves and not seek only to advance.

In fact, the god-fearing man should be prepared to sacrifice, suffer, and be content in all things - no matter his circumstances (Acts 20.35; 1 Tim 6.6-10).  As a matter of fact, Christ insisted that anyone who intended to follow in his footsteps would need to take up a cross on his or her own shoulders.  The Christian life is all about putting ourselves on the line - our physical and emotional well-being.  We are to be prepared to suffer, not because we love pain but because we love the limitless glory of God's righteousness more than the short-lived thrill of being applauded by fellow men.  God's goal for our lives is sanctification, not happiness - although when we are truly satisfied with Him and Him alone, happiness becomes transcendent joy, which persists despite our circumstances.

The reality is that if we strive to be "self-made," then we aren't relying upon the power which God supplies, nor are we recognizing ourselves as the work of His hands.  That's why we can't strive to be "self-made" and also humble ourselves the way the Bible would require, because the very roots of independence deny the need for God.  If we can do it on our own, we don't have any need of assistance - Divine or otherwise.  This is why Jesus' definition of greatness in Mark 10 is so radically different than what we have in mind.

In simplest terms, biblical greatness has nothing to do with image and everything to do with character.  That is, God's character.  It has absolutely nothing to do with ability - in fact, it has everything to do with lack thereof.  When we are weak, He is strong.  While we have a tendency to place "great" men and women on pedestals because they done tremendous things which have influenced us in some way, God doesn't see greatness as how many people we touch.  To Him, what matters ultimately is the condition of our hearts.

Consider Jesus' words to the disciples in Luke 22.  "Who is the greater," He asked them, just prior to His arrest in the garden, "the one who reclines at table or one who serves him?  Is it not the one who reclines at table?"  Logically, that is the correct answer, and it was exactly that position of honor that the disciples were fighting over.  There was no one present to wash their feet at the last supper, an error of decorum that would have been glaringly obvious, but no one was willing to get up and perform the task himself because of how degrading it was.

So Jesus turned the tables on them.

"I am among you as the one who serves," he continued, wrapping a towel around his waist and performing the ungainly task without hesitation.  Suddenly, he has thrown their preoccupation with status into an unpleasant light.  If Jesus, God incarnate, was willing to get down on his knees and serve in such a humiliating manner, if he was willing to sacrifice his life in such a painful and debased way to ransom a people who offered him no regard, then clearly God's measure of greatness excludes image altogether.  In God's economy, recognition and a self-made name aren't the measure of true greatness.

While the biblical application of humility doesn't deny us our aspirations, strengths, or accomplishments, it does redirect our focus.  As C. J. Mahaney puts it, "Ultimately, our Christian service exists only to draw attention to this source - to our crucified and risen Lord who gave Himself as a ransom for us all."  In other words, regardless of what we dream of doing with our lives, it should fit into the bracket of humbly pointing people to Christ.  So while it isn't wrong to strive for success in your field or to aim for excellence at what we do (which, by the way, is also a biblical command), our desires and ambitions should be informed by our understanding of the gospel.  "True greatness," Mahaney continues, "is not even possible for us apart from the Savior's unique sacrifice," because true greatness is on par with selfless humility.

We need to find our identity in Christ, not find a way to fit Christ into the rubric of our life goals.  We need to forgo what our culture would call our "natural right" - our right to recognition and freedom - choosing instead to live worshipfully, sacrificially, in a servantile manner, willingly making ourselves the slave to all.

None of this is possible without first understanding humility.