Humble About the Wrong Thing

“Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” — Proverbs 3:7 (KJV)

In his next chapter, Chesterton notices something odd about the way people in his day thought, and it is still true now.

People are often very sure about themselves, and very unsure about truth. They will say, “Be yourself, believe in yourself, follow your heart,” and in the same breath, “Who can say what’s really true? It’s all just opinion.” Chesterton thought this was exactly backwards.

“But what we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place.”

He explains:

“A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.”

Think about that. The Bible tells us to be humble about ourselves: to admit we might be wrong, that we are not the centre of the universe, that our hearts can deceive us. But it also tells us that truth is real, that God has spoken, and that we can know him.

Our culture often flips this. It tells us to be confident in ourselves but modest about truth. Chesterton says this makes it hard even to think, because if nothing is really true, then there is nothing to think about. He jokes that the modern sceptic is so humble “that he doubts if he can even learn.”

Chesterton also says that some people believe in themselves so completely that they shut themselves inside their own heads. The motto “He believes in himself” sounds inspiring, but if that’s all you believe in, your world becomes very small.

So what’s the healthy way? Be humble about yourself. You can be wrong, and you need God and other people. But be bold about truth. You can trust what God has said, and you can stand on it even when it is unpopular.

That combination, humble and bold, is rare. It makes people both teachable and brave.

One thing to do this week: notice this week when you hear phrases like “believe in yourself” or “there’s no such thing as truth”. Ask yourself: where should I be humble, and where should I be confident? Write down one truth about God you can be sure of.