Humility with Hannah Anderson
On today’s episode of the Journeywomen podcast, I’m chatting with Hannah Anderson on the topic of humility. We talked about everything from what humility is to how Jesus embodied humility here on this earth.
Here is a quote from her book, Humble Roots, “Before we can even begin to answer our call to come to him, Jesus comes to us. Because we could never sufficiently humble ourselves, Jesus humbles himself, and by doing so, he became both the model and the means of our own humility. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus shows us our true identity as people dependent on God for life. And through his life, death, and resurrection, he imparts this humble life to us once again.”
Hannah and I flesh this out in a real practical way in today’s conversation.
So you’ll know her a little better, Hannah lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia where she spends her days working with her husband in rural ministry, writing, and caring for their family. As a writer and co-host of the weekly podcast, Persuasion, she enjoys exploring how the gospel informs and transforms how we think about current events and popular trends. Her books Made for More and Humble Roots unpack the question of our identity and purpose as women destined to reflect God's glory to the world around us. She also has a new book coming out on October 2 called All That’s Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment.
Can you tell us a little about who you are and what you do?
Theologically speaking, what is humility?
What does humility teach us?
What is the opposite of humility? How might we be able to detect when we are NOT walking humbly?
How did Jesus embody humility? How do we see humility portrayed in the gospel?
Practically speaking, what role does humility play in the way we plan our schedule? Vocalize our needs? Respond to criticism? Relate to others? Evangelize/share the gospel? Relate to our emotions? View our bodies?
How does true humility affect our confidence?
What is the joy in walking in humility?
THREE QUESTIONS I ASK EVERY GUEST
What 3 resources would you recommend for someone who desires to grow in this area?
What are your 3 simple joys?
Who has had the greatest impact on your own journey with Jesus?
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
“Part of the reason it’s hard to accept this conversation is because we have false definitions of pride and humility. We think of pride as swagger, self interest, or narcissism. Most of the women I know aren’t narcissistic or self involved. Instead, they are the ones doing something for everyone else.”
“Pride is a form of self reliance and misunderstanding the limits that we have as human beings, trying to live beyond the limits that God has rightly and sovereignly and lovingly placed on our lives. What we end up doing is we begin to act as if we are God.”
“If you peel back the layers, if Christ links rest and submission to himself and to humility, then that also meant that I had to relearn what humility was.”
“Humility is a right self-concept where you understand who you are as a limited, created person who is a servant to her King. It means embracing the boundaries of our humanity.”
“Philippians 2 tells the story of Christ leaving the glories of heaven and it used the language of humility. It defines how we know Christ is humble is that he took on the limits of human flesh.”
“Sometimes we think of humility as a strong awareness of our sinfulness. If Christ is the perfect example of humility, and we are going to come to him to learn humility from him, it isn’t learning our sinfulness. Because he was sinless. What emerged for me was a picture of Christ becoming human, embracing a proper self concept and the limits of physicality, time, even of power, that even as a child he had to learn to read. And that opened up a whole new way of thinking about life.”
“A lot of anxiety and restlessness in my own life was trying to live beyond who God had made me to be.”
“Humility is beautiful because it saves us from ourselves. It allows us to be the limited people we are without the pressure and guilt to be more than God has created us to be. It relieves that pressure saying ‘I have to save everyone and everything. And if I don’t, if I’m not involved in this project or this good work, then somehow it’s a reflection that I don’t care.’”
“I have certain physical limitations. I have to stop to eat three and four times a day just to stay alive. Those basic needs are a constant built in reminder that you are limited, you need dependence on God, you have to pause long enough to do these basic things as a reminder of your limitations and dependence.”
“The thing about humility is not that we attain it. It’s that we grow in our awareness of ourselves in our context and pressure points and how we are relating to things. What is growing is our capacity to respond correctly.”
“In Matthew 11, when Christ is saying come to me and take my yoke upon you. That is an image of submission to a master and implied in that is that God is the only one who gets to tell us what to do.”
“We have all these voices telling us what we should be doing… humility teaches us to submit to our King. The only one we are ultimately responsible to is God.”
“What we need to give greatest attention to is following the path that God has laid out.”
“Humility says, ‘I’m limited and I’m not God.’”
“God is the one who makes our work fruitful.”
“Depending on God to bring results for our work also relieves that burden of performance. You’re called to follow.”
“If you’re walking in obedience to Him, He hedges you in.”
“The call of God is always one step more.”
“Humility says ‘we’re limited.’”
“What is more humble than saying, ‘I can’t?’”
“Humility allows you to not be directed by your emotions. The reality of who we are isn’t based on how we are feeling in the moment.”
“God is greater than our hearts and our emotions cannot give us ultimate reality.”
“You can give attention to your emotions, not denial of your emotions, but acknowledging how you feel and asking ‘what is God’s truth?’”
“There is nothing to be ashamed of in regard to our bodies.”
“Humility says your body is designed to age.”
“Our bodies are a clear reminder that we are not God.”
“Humility brings about rest.”
“Humility takes the weight off of having to be perfect. It allows us to be patient in our growth process.”
“Be who He has made you to be in obedience.”
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
Matthew 11
Philippians 2
HANNAH’S RESOURCES FOR Humility
Humility by Andrew Murray
The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness by Timothy Keller
Humility: Wellspring of Virtue by Dietrich von Hildebrand
Learning dependence in community
HANNAH'S SIMPLE JOYS
Snacks for dinner
Thrift shopping
Her cat
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
How would you define humility? How have you seen it exemplified by others?
How does Christ embody humility?
How does understanding the Gospel change how you view yourself?
What are some ways you are viewing yourself inaccurately?
What are you going to do or implement as a result of what you’ve learned this week?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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