Line upon Line

We are invited to apprentice ourselves to God, plumbing the power of humility.

The fear of appearing arrogant or unhumble may undo us spiritually and render us passive and “safe.” But we can get clear on what humility is not: it is not being a doormat, or weak, or ashamed, or overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy or low self-esteem, or inferior, or groveling. In fact, if we have too many of these sorts of self-images running us, we will not be able to connect effectively with the Lord or respond boldly to what He would have us do. These hidden shadows will subtly sabotage us. We will be afraid to open ourselves up and let the Power flow through.

Humility is, indeed, a principle of power because it defines a living relationship to the Source of Power. Jesus helps us to see into both power and humility, as Moroni writes: “[Jesus] hath talked with me face to face … in plain humility” (Ether 12:39). How is it that God Himself has plain humility and yet is also bold and powerful?

I went looking for God’s descriptions of Himself. I’ll list only a few here: “I am from above”; “I am not of this world”; “I am a king”; “I am not come of myself”; “I am the Son of God”; “I am the way, the truth, and the life”; “I am in the Father”; “I am the bread of life, the living bread”; “I am Master and Lord”; “I am not come to destroy but to fulfill”; “I am come in my Father’s name”; “I am the resurrection and the life”; “I am God and I am a God of miracles”; “I am the light and the life and the truth of the world”; “I am he that comforteth you”; “Here am I– send me”; “I am the Father”; “I am the God of Israel and the God of the whole earth”; “I, the Lord,amthySavior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Reading the Lord’s “I AM’s” not only intensified my faith in Him but seemed also to call forth these very attributes in my own soul.

One spiritual teacher writes of the conscious choice to develop them: “You are not replacing or undermining God by developing your spirit — you are trying to make contact with the powerful force that is God within you. What you are seeking and searching for has always been with you. Spiritual growth, development, and empowerment are a conscious choice. Now is the time to explore, accept, and understand how to make the divinity within you work with you and for you…. Tapping the power within’ is a process of recognition and reliance on the Spirit that exists within us all. Spirit is the presence and the power of the Creator.” (Iyanla Vanzant, Tapping the Power Within: A Path to Self-Empowerment for Women).

Jesus made a conscious choice. He had known from before the foundations of the world that His godly power depended on His being exactly who He was. How did He develop these powerful attributes? It appears that He simply took seriously His divine nature. He knew that He had within Himself the attributes of Light, Truth, Mercy, Love, Faith, and the Power of Commitment – the power to see a thing through – the power to keep His word. His very Word took on power through His steady personal commitment: “He never doth vary from that which he hath said” (Mosiah 2:22). He so closely aligned Himself with Truth and Light and Law that He could say, “I am the Truth,” “I am the Light,” “I am the Law,” thus, “I am the Way.”

The motivating insight here is that the godly attributes actually invest a person with power. These attributes produce godhood. As Elder Gene Cook said, “The very power of God is found in His attributes of godliness.The power of the priesthood is maintained by these attributes. We seek these attributes” (General Conference, April 2002).

The Lectures on Faith confirm that it is the attributes of the Gods that make them Gods: “The glory which the Father and the Son have is because they are just and holy Beings; And that if they were lacking in one attribute or perfection which they have, the glory which they have, never could be enjoyed by them; for it requires them to be precisely what they are in order to enjoy it. . . . [The Savior] proposed to make [man] like unto himself; and he was like the Father, the great prototype of all saved beings; And for any portion of the human family to be assimilated into their likeness is to be saved .

Jesus found these attributes in Himself and then apprenticed Himself to His Father, becoming a God. Here we see how this definition of Godhood as the sum of highly developed attributes departs from the “checklist” approach to spirituality. The god-like nature is first a state of being, produced by commitment to the divine attributes; then everyday doings flow from that state of being. This process goes forward by the disposition to partake of power and by deep and dynamic humility in the divine relationship. As Paul says, “But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone [i.e., Christ]” (Romans 9:31-32).

Like our Savior, we too are invited to apprentice ourselves. Elder Bruce McConkie urged: “Learn how to [pray] boldly and efficaciously, not in word only but in spirit and in power, so that we may pull upon ourselves … the very powers of heaven” (Ensign, Jan. 1976, 9).

What could be more compelling than this combination of inner power and humility? If the devoted apprentice stays on track, he does not swell up in self-importance, but rather unfolds in sensitivity and awareness. He rightly senses that he himself is an indispensible dynamic in the workings of the Universe; still, he remains, at the same time, conscious that he is only one part in the whole Divine Mechanism. He keeps his perspective, receiving from and submitting to the humble God.