My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God. (Sirach 3)

What is humility, really? Is it bowing your head to the ground and beating your breast, saying, “Woe is me! I’m a nobody”? Or is it acknowledging how awesome we have been created, and that while we have many gifts and talents and abilities, they all come from God. Humility is giving God credit for the blessings and gifts we have and then putting them to use to serve and glorify God and to serve others for the sake of our creator and redeemer.

Does God really love us more if we are humble? The Bible teaches us that God loves all people equally and unconditionally. But when we humbly acknowledge his gift and continued action in our lives, then we open ourselves to experience his love, to be actively in union with the one who loves us. If we don’t acknowledge the creator, then our relationship with him dies and the life of our souls, our deepest essence, withers away.

When we acknowledge Him and live in line with his plan for our lives, then he does bless us even more and fills us with the gifts of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, and hope.