Of all the pursuits that come with the Christian life, is any more constant, any more consuming, and any more difficult than the pursuit of humility? Surely nothing cuts harder against the grain of our natural, sinful humanity than to be humble before God and humble before our fellow man.

Yet God calls us to display humility. He warns that he opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So how do we become humble? Or, to say it another way, how do we humble ourselves? Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it! Give me a course I can take, a list I can check off, a procedure I can follow, and I’ll keep at it until I’m properly humble! But as David Mathis points out in his new book Humbled: Welcoming the Uncomfortable Work of God, such an attitude is all wrong because it elevates us too much. “In contrast to this attitude, the humble-self theme in Scripture turns our human instincts and assumptions upside down. Yes, this is indeed a biblical directive. And at the same time, it’s not something we can just up and do. We cannot humble ourselves by our own bootstraps.” There is no simple plan to follow, no course to take, no step-by-step procedure. That’s because …

… we humans are not the drivers of our own humility. Our God designs the humbling way in which he forges the virtue of humility. He takes the initiative. He acts first. Our humility happens on his terms. He sees. He knows. He moves, with sovereign, omnipotent, meticulous care. He is intimately engaged with his created world and with each of his creatures. He is the one who humbles us with his mighty hand, and when his humbling hand descends and we’re cut to our knees or flat on the ground, then the question comes to us: Will you humble yourself and embrace God’s humbling hand, or will you try to fight back?
Will you receive his humbling providences, or attempt to explain them away?
Will you soften to him in humility, or harden with pride?
True self-humbling is not our initiative, but it does require our doing as we learn to welcome the uncomfortable work of God.

That uncomfortable work, and our response to it, is the theme of Mathis’s book. In its eight brief chapters he offers a study of the Bible’s humble-self language. Specifically, he follows the lead of the “humble-self” texts “for what we might discover not as much about humility in general, though that’s not unimportant, but specifically (and practically) about what it means to pursue humility, and especially to humble-self, when God is the one who initiates our humbling, not us.”
So he asks first “How do I humble myself?” and explains how God humbles us through our response to his Word and his work. He shows the importance of providence, Scripture, prayer, fasting, and local church fellowship in God’s working out of our humility. He explains how we can think less of ourselves and think of ourselves less. He shows how most ultimately, humility is the means through which we admit to ourselves, to others, and to God himself, “I am not God.” In that way, it is “a posture of soul and body and life that acknowledges and welcomes the godness of God and the humanness of self.”
All-in-all, Humbled is as helpful a book as you’ll find on the essential but oh-so-difficult task of becoming humble—of responding appropriately to God’s pursuit of our humility. I highly recommend it.

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Good morning. Grace and peace to you. And happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians.
Because this is peak summer and therefore an especially slow week in terms of traffic, I will be posting only A La Carte articles (with perhaps a book review or two along the way). My original articles will resume next week.
There are all sorts of new Kindle deals to look through today. The deal of the day is probably Andrew Peterson’s The God of the Garden.
(Yesterday on the blog: Beware of Idleness)

This article makes a simple but crucial point: love prays.

“Walking is probably not the fastest way to get there, but getting there may not be the goal of the trip. Poetry is probably not the fastest way to communicate propositional truth, but it is possible that merely learning propositional truth is not the goal.”

You’ll enjoy this celebration of the humble vulture.

“Depression is one of the dreadful shared human experiences of life in this fallen world. So many things work on each one of us, from within and from without, that we all have times and seasons when we feel ourselves drowning under the weight of the anxieties, pressures, and trials. This ultimately results in a depression of mind and heart. A distinction must be made here between what may be called sinful depression and sinless depression.”

“There are lots of places in the Bible I would remove if I could. Whether it’s a rule I don’t want to follow or a judgment that just seems too harsh for modern sensibilities, my fallen flesh would love to apply a bottle of white out to many verses. There’s one place, though, that’s nothing like that.”

Sarah reminds us that beauty is often found in the most unexpected places.

…when he became a hated criminal, when he was dragged before the courts and accused of crimes, his friends quickly made themselves scarce. They disappeared into the night, leaving him to fend for himself.

Next to mother and father, there is no one who can do so much to help a young man to live nobly, as his own sister.
—J.R. Miller

This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by The Good Book Company. They have five Summer Reads bundles for giveaway. The giveaway will close on Tuesday, June 21st at noon EST.

The Air We Breathe by Glen Scrivener
Is Christianity history? Or is Christian history the deepest explanation of the modern world?
Today in the west, many consider the church to be dead or dying. Christianity is seen as outdated, bigoted and responsible for many of society’s problems. This leaves many believers embarrassed about their faith and many outsiders wary of religion. But what if the Christian message is not the enemy of our modern Western values, but the very thing that makes sense of them?
In this fascinating book, Glen Scrivener takes readers on a journey to discover how the teachings of Jesus not only turned the ancient world upside down, but continue to underpin the way we think of life, worth, and meaning. 
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12 Things God Can’t Do by Nick Tucker
What’s the secret to truly trusting God so that we can rest easy at night? How can we have the same faith and confidence as David who said: “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety” (Ps 4:8)?
The answer lies in focusing on God’s greatness. When we consider God’s greatness, we usually tend to think about what God can do. However, this book explores 12 things that God can’t do. They all express aspects of his nature and character which we can embrace with relief, celebrate with joy and worship with awe. You will marvel both at God’s otherness and at how he became one of us in the person of Jesus.
Refreshed by John Hindley
Vacations often give us an opportunity to rest and reflect. However, when our normal routines and habits are suspended, it can be hard to spend time with God.
These 30 devotions have been specifically designed to help you to rest in the Lord’s goodness and glory during your time away so that you can return home feeling refreshed spiritually as well as physically. You can pick and choose which devotions to read depending on the type of vacation you are on (for example, city break or beach) and there are optional family activities and questions linked to each devotion giving other family members an opportunity to reflect alongside you.
The Awesome Super Fantastic Forever Party by Joni Eareckson Tada
What will heaven be like? Answering this question for kids can be challenging, especially as it’s hard to get past the myths.
This beautifully illustrated, biblically faithful storybook by Joni Eareckson Tada excites children with this truth—that when Jesus comes back to this world, he will bring heaven with him! There will be a new creation where we’ll have new hearts and a new body, living in a new city. And best of all, we’ll be with Jesus, forever! It will be better than we can ever imagine.[embedded content]
His Grace is Enough by Melissa Kruger
This illustrated, rhyming book will help parents explain to children the unique and wonderful Christian message of God’s grace—that Jesus offers forgiveness and allows us to move on from our mistakes.
It can be used to share the heart of the Christian faith with children or to remind them that Jesus is the person to run to when they mess up.
Again, there are five packages to win. And all you need to do to enter the draw is to drop your name and email address in the form below.
Giveaway Rules: You may enter one time. When you enter, you permit The Good Book Company to send you marketing emails. The winners will be notified via email, and those who do not win will receive an email with the option to download a free e-copy of Truth on Fire by Adam Ramsey. The giveaway closes on Tuesday, June 21st at noon EST.