Chreia to CS Lewis

C.S. Lewis wisely says, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”

Humble people usually aren’t even aware that they are humble, because they aren’t taking time to think of themselves at all. 

They can serve others out of the confidence they have in God’s love for them. 

God’s overwhelming love allows the humble to forget themselves entirely for the sake of serving the Beloved and the ones He loves. 

The proud, by contrast, can’t forget themselves. 

They are trapped in self-consciousness, because they have yet to lose themselves in the love of God. 

They may do service, but they think of themselves constantly as they serve, never forgetting how righteous they are for serving, never forgetting how unworthy the objects of their service are, never able to abandon themselves because they are not swept up and away from ego into the love of God. 

Just as seed must be cast away and it must bury itself before it can grow up and produce any fruit, so we must cast away our pride and bury it, dying to ourselves, so that we can resurrect and grow up in Christ and bear righteous fruit. 

Jesus said that if a man would come after Him, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Him. 

Jesus, being very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing. 

He abandoned Himself to God’s will and gave Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, becoming obedient to death, even such a humiliating death as the cross. 

Therefore, God has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above every name. 

Every knee will bow to this most humble, self-forgetful King Jesus who loved us enough to think of us and our need for a Savior over Himself and what He deserved. 

Love this humble God! 

Give yourself in love to Him! 

In that love, think of yourself less and less until you forget yourself entirely in service to the ones God loves, content to be loved by Him, known by Him, then loving Him, knowing Him will be pride and joy enough to fill our needy souls. 

*I'm working through Progymnasmata exercises this summer. This is one exercise called the Chreia, a specific form of praise of an author and one of his wise sayings.