216: Richard Foster & Brenda Quinn | The Virtue of Humility in a Me Centered World

Richard Foster & Brenda Quinn | Humility in a Me Centered World

Richard J. Foster is the founder of Renovaré. He is the author of several books, including Streams of Living Water, Prayer, Freedom of Simplicity, Sanctuary of the Soul, and Celebration of Discipline, which has sold over two million copies worldwide; he is coauthor (with Gayle Beebe) of Longing for God.

Brenda Quinn is a pastor of spiritual formation in the Foursquare church and a writer of many years. She is also the author of the character profiles in the Life with God Bible.

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Richard Foster, Brenda Quinn and Amber discuss the virtue of humility in a me centered world and how Jesus is our model.

Questions Discussed During The Virtue of Humility in a Me Centered World:

In a recent conversation with Rick Langer and Joanne Jung, Rick described a leadership book written in the early 1900’s and its chapters primary focus was virtuous living. He compared that to leadership books written today which tend to focus on how to assert yourself, how to achieve your goals, how to find your identity and so on. That conversation seems to pair up well with your newest book Learning Humility. Why this book, in this way, in this time?
Merriam-Webster defines humility as freedom from pride and arrogance: the quality or state of being humble. Will the two of you expand on that definition?
In a culture that is SHOUTING, “Be great!” ,”You do you!”, “Busyness and Accolades equal Success!”, humility is often viewed as weakness, but how does Jesus view humility and how do we witness humility in his life?
What are a few of the characteristics of humility that may be surprising to those who haven’t spent time intentionally pursuing it?
Richard, you pose a few questions toward the end of Learning Humility to help us discern our growth in humility. As I share each of those questions I would like for one or both of you to expound on why they’re helpful to ask:
1. Am I genuinely happy when someone else succeeds?
2. Do I have less need to talk about my own accomplishments?
3. Is the inner urge to control or manage others growing less and less in me?
4. Can I genuinely enjoy a conversation without any need or even any desire to dominate what is being said?
If someone desires to grow in humility, where would you recommend they begin?
Let’s end with, how can we celebrate and foster humility in those we mentor, parent, or teach?

The Virtue of Humility in a Me Centered World Quotes to Remember:

“I have a prayer for parents of teenagers. It’s a very liturgical prayer. It goes this way. ‘Oh, God, help.’.”

“Humility as a virtue isn’t lost. We can look for it and find it, but it’s disappearing. That is, it’s no longer thought of as essential to a good life.”

“People who don’t really think about humility all that often….maybe on the outset, think of it as being passive…. [I]t’s just sitting back and not being aggressive, not being assertive, not being proactive in the way I live my life. And that’s really not humility, that wasn’t Jesus at all, right?….Jesus was the definition of humility. But he wasn’t passive. So so it’s a much different kind of definition and understanding than I think people might come at it…”

“If you want to learn about humility, just read the gospels and you’ll see Jesus….[He] doesn’t need to feel important, but cares for especially the outcast, the bruised, the broken, and values, every single person.”

“He [Jesus] was so interruptible….He would allow himself to be deterred from healing someone or raising someone from the dead or whatever it was, because someone else came with a need first. He wasn’t so tied to an agenda.”

“He [Jesus] chose such common people, and a variety of people, from tax collectors to fishermen…They weren’t the leaders of society, they weren’t the people that you’d be with, because you wanted to be important.”

“…[H]oly hilarity is a part of a life of humility. Now, I don’t mean laughter…at the expense of another human. But laughter when we are free from the need to position ourselves or try to make sure that we’ve said just the right thing….See, one of the dangers for religious folks is that they can be stuffy bores.”

“We don’t need to control each other, we just are with each other. And we bring the life that God gives us to one another. But each person makes decisions and we must allow them to do that, even if they’re bad decisions. And we’re there to help help pick up the pieces if that’s the case. But managing and controlling, that’s not our business. That’s God’s business.”