And one of his 'older' songs is Amish Paradise, which is, as usual, a great song, which skewers things, as Weird Al tends to do. The verse that sticks in my head from this song is as follows:
Think you're really righteous? Think you're pure in heart?
Well, I know I'm a million times as humble as thou art.
Well, I know I'm a million times as humble as thou art.
Ha! What a great bit! It's a great bit, because trying to out-humble someone is impossible, and ridiculous to contemplate. You can't be humble to be seen as being humble, that's nonsense! Or is it?
You'd be surprised at how many people think that they can fake humility. Spoiler alert, it's a lot. Lots of folks assume that they can fake humility, that you can get away with pretending to be humble, and pretending to be meek and nice.
But attempting this is trying to square the circle, it's going through the impossible. You're trying to put two mutually exclusive things together, pride and humility, and whichever one is really there will bubble to the surface remarkably quickly. And here's the issue, we have all run into people who are faking humility. People who try to make it appear that they are humble, that they are self-effacing, but are actually looking for near constant approval. This is a real thing that happens, and it's one of the more unpleasant things to witness.
Now, why is this? Well, it's not too hard to figure out. You know that we all love people who are humble, who are good, who work hard and who are genuinely interested in what we have to say. And when we see the admiration that these people get, often we want a little bit of that ourselves. But here's the problem, which is that if we want the attention, then it takes all the humility away from us, and turns it into pride. And the pride never works out.
So how do the genuinely humble people of the world manage it? How do they get away with being humble and self-effacing? How do they manage to be nice, to be kind, to think of others before themselves? Because they're not thinking about themselves.
This whole attitude links in with Matthew Chapter 25, where the sheep on the right hand of Jesus Christ hear from him that when he was hungry or thirsty or in jail or sick that they took care of him, and the sheep had no memory of this. When did we do this, they say. And the answer is that whatsoever we do for the least of these, we do for Jesus.
This isn't a throwaway, nor is it a minor detail. It's actually quite central to understanding good works, charity, humility and all that stuff from a Christian perspective. For in the Christian faith, you don't get to heaven by good works, by doing good things, by being a good person, that's not how it works. Faith in Christ and his atoning grace is the ticket, not works, lest any man should boast. And if that is the case, then why would any good works in the Christian faith exist (and goodness, some might argue that they don't)? We in the Christian faith would say that the good works that we do, the charity that we offer, the humility that we have, is in response to the work that Christ has done. The sheep on the right hand of our Lord said as much, when they vocalized that they had no idea that they were doing things that would factor in on judgment day, they were just doing things in response to the work of Christ on their behalf.
And that's how Christian humility works. You can't concentrate on being more humble, because that'll just draw more attention to yourself so that you can be seen before men, sounding a trumpet before your charity. The only real way forward, honestly, is to not think about yourself at all. CS Lewis talks about it like falling asleep, in that if you're concentrating on falling asleep, you're going to stay awake. You can only really fall asleep if you're concentrating not on falling asleep, but probably on nothing at all. Just drifting off into sleep and contentment.
If you're focusing on how humble you are, then you're always going to be thinking about yourself, and the humility will be gone, at best you'll have a simulation of humility. At best. But if you are thinking of Christ, of his majesty and glory, of his kingdom and his righteousness, then humility will be a natural side effect of that.
As the scriptures say, seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all the rest will be added unto you. All the legitimate humble Christians that I have ever met have been like this, you know, and no, I don't count myself in this number. There are legitimate humble Christians, Christians who are empty of their own opinions and dedicated to service. People who don't think about themselves and how they look, but who instead would wash feet, feed thousands, and never let on that they were doing any of it. Which is the point. How do they manage it? Because they aren't thinking about themselves. They're thinking about Christ, and responding to his grace. That's all.
It's so simple, really, but incredibly profound. And as usual, you can't fake it. There are no oven settings for this, no Shariah finance to help you shortcut around it. None of it can be put on, and you've probably seen enough people try to fake it to know when they're doing it. You can't sit at the worst place with the expectation that you're going to be moved up higher. That's not how it works, it's more false humility, and it never works out. You have to sit at that low place because that's where you feel you ought to sit. You've looked at yourself, you've mused on the concept of God and his majesty, you know how great he is and how small you are, and so you sit at the lowest place because that's where you feel you should be. And it is there that Christ whispers those comforting words to you 'Friend, move up higher.'
If you've placed yourself at the best possible place you can, then there is nowhere to go but down. If you are at the highest high, if you've placed yourself in the prime place, higher than anyone else, if you are up there, then there is nowhere else for you to go but down, to be moved down in the esteem of others, to be placed in a lower spot. If you're in the lowest spot, then there's only one direction to be moved, which is up. I know, it seems so simple when explained like that, but that's how simple it is. Most of the time, we end up making things more complicated than they have to be or need to be. When humility comes up, don't think about how humble you are, don't think about how humble you can be, don't think about how great it would be to be seen being humble, none of that. Just think on Christ. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. The rest will follow.
To close, it all reminds me of a book by Terry Jones called 'Fairy Tales,' which was a book of fairy tales written by Terry Jones. I know, what a synopsis. One of those fairy tales had to do with a castle
a long way away, that a man was trying to get to. He spent a long time trying to get there, but never ended up getting any closer, always retreading over the same ground, and never making any progress. Eventually, he gave up, and found that when he gave up, he had arrived at the castle. He was there. THe moral was that sometimes giving up is the best way of getting to where you want to be. I know that seems strange, like it's the exact opposite message from what we are usually given, but that's what was so special about it - it's true. Never quitting is a silly way to try to run things. So too, the only way to be humble is to not think about being humble. The only way to be humble is to think of others, think of Christ. Thinking of yourself and how humble you are will lead to self-reflection and self promotion, and being moved down from the place of honor. Thinking on Christ will lead to grace, humility and charity.
This isn't a throwaway, nor is it a minor detail. It's actually quite central to understanding good works, charity, humility and all that stuff from a Christian perspective. For in the Christian faith, you don't get to heaven by good works, by doing good things, by being a good person, that's not how it works. Faith in Christ and his atoning grace is the ticket, not works, lest any man should boast. And if that is the case, then why would any good works in the Christian faith exist (and goodness, some might argue that they don't)? We in the Christian faith would say that the good works that we do, the charity that we offer, the humility that we have, is in response to the work that Christ has done. The sheep on the right hand of our Lord said as much, when they vocalized that they had no idea that they were doing things that would factor in on judgment day, they were just doing things in response to the work of Christ on their behalf.
And that's how Christian humility works. You can't concentrate on being more humble, because that'll just draw more attention to yourself so that you can be seen before men, sounding a trumpet before your charity. The only real way forward, honestly, is to not think about yourself at all. CS Lewis talks about it like falling asleep, in that if you're concentrating on falling asleep, you're going to stay awake. You can only really fall asleep if you're concentrating not on falling asleep, but probably on nothing at all. Just drifting off into sleep and contentment.
"About sleep: do you find that the great secret (if one can do it) is
not to care whether you sleep? Sleep is a jade who scorns her suitors
but woos her scorners." ~ C.S. Lewis
If you're focusing on how humble you are, then you're always going to be thinking about yourself, and the humility will be gone, at best you'll have a simulation of humility. At best. But if you are thinking of Christ, of his majesty and glory, of his kingdom and his righteousness, then humility will be a natural side effect of that.
As the scriptures say, seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all the rest will be added unto you. All the legitimate humble Christians that I have ever met have been like this, you know, and no, I don't count myself in this number. There are legitimate humble Christians, Christians who are empty of their own opinions and dedicated to service. People who don't think about themselves and how they look, but who instead would wash feet, feed thousands, and never let on that they were doing any of it. Which is the point. How do they manage it? Because they aren't thinking about themselves. They're thinking about Christ, and responding to his grace. That's all.
It's so simple, really, but incredibly profound. And as usual, you can't fake it. There are no oven settings for this, no Shariah finance to help you shortcut around it. None of it can be put on, and you've probably seen enough people try to fake it to know when they're doing it. You can't sit at the worst place with the expectation that you're going to be moved up higher. That's not how it works, it's more false humility, and it never works out. You have to sit at that low place because that's where you feel you ought to sit. You've looked at yourself, you've mused on the concept of God and his majesty, you know how great he is and how small you are, and so you sit at the lowest place because that's where you feel you should be. And it is there that Christ whispers those comforting words to you 'Friend, move up higher.'
If you've placed yourself at the best possible place you can, then there is nowhere to go but down. If you are at the highest high, if you've placed yourself in the prime place, higher than anyone else, if you are up there, then there is nowhere else for you to go but down, to be moved down in the esteem of others, to be placed in a lower spot. If you're in the lowest spot, then there's only one direction to be moved, which is up. I know, it seems so simple when explained like that, but that's how simple it is. Most of the time, we end up making things more complicated than they have to be or need to be. When humility comes up, don't think about how humble you are, don't think about how humble you can be, don't think about how great it would be to be seen being humble, none of that. Just think on Christ. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. The rest will follow.
To close, it all reminds me of a book by Terry Jones called 'Fairy Tales,' which was a book of fairy tales written by Terry Jones. I know, what a synopsis. One of those fairy tales had to do with a castle a long way away, that a man was trying to get to. He spent a long time trying to get there, but never ended up getting any closer, always retreading over the same ground, and never making any progress. Eventually, he gave up, and found that when he gave up, he had arrived at the castle. He was there. THe moral was that sometimes giving up is the best way of getting to where you want to be. I know that seems strange, like it's the exact opposite message from what we are usually given, but that's what was so special about it - it's true. Never quitting is a silly way to try to run things. So too, the only way to be humble is to not think about being humble. The only way to be humble is to think of others, think of Christ. Thinking of yourself and how humble you are will lead to self-reflection and self promotion, and being moved down from the place of honor. Thinking on Christ will lead to grace, humility and charity.
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