Royal Insignia — Humility

I thought the material well worth the publishing but wasn’t sure of the reaction of the reading public. After all, we live in a world where humility is not exactly encouraged and certainly not well understood. Humility is often interpreted as nothing more or less than ineptitude or lack of initiative. To succeed we are told we must make ourselves look good, sound good, and never allow others to step all over us. How then, in such a world, could a book on humility get off the ground? True, this book was intended for the Christian reading public who surely would understand all about humility. After all, as followers of Christ, we are told to walk in His steps. The opening reading in Royal Insignia states clearly what a few of those steps were. I quote:

“Because man seeks the highest seat, He (Christ) took the lowest.
Because man wishes to be as the gods, He became man, even a babe.
Because man desires costly dwellings, He had not where to lay His head and began His life in a manger. . .
Because man strives for wealth, He became poor…
Because man chooses men of renown to rule and govern nations, He chose humble fishermen from Galilee to be His disciples.”

—Lillian Harvey.

There is no doubt about it. Christ’s example is truly an inspiring one and yet so counter culture that a book which speaks of nothing else but humility–how can it have much of an appeal today? Well, as it turned out, my pessimism was proved unfounded. Royal Insignia, while not a national best seller, has had a surprising response both in this country and abroad. Pastors have testified that it has transformed their churches by changing the perspective of their entire staff. Evangelists have promoted it as one of the best books on the subject while person after person has written that this book brought them nearer the Lord they professed to serve.

Why, I ask myself, has the book had such an impact? In the first place, there is in most of us, an unquenchable thirst to be more godlike and an intuitive response to the call to be clothed in Christ’s humility. Perhaps our motives are flawed. Perhaps we cling to the words “he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” and so we are willing for the humbling if it leads us to glory. Perhaps this is why our hand reaches for a book on humility. Perhaps…perhaps…. And yet, let’s face it, the standard our Lord sets before us is so frighteningly high that, if taken seriously, deals a continual deathblow to our innate pride as we attempt to follow in His footsteps. The cost is great and embracing that cost slowly refines and transforms our motives. The glory we begin to desire is to know Him better, love Him more dearly, follow Him more nearly, and we can only do this by letting Him deal continued deathblows to our pride and arrogance.

Then, secondly, Royal Insignia, while presenting Christ’s example to us in its opening pages, goes on to call upon witness after witness to testify that humility is indeed the “royal insignia” of every true follower of Christ. They relate frankly and honestly how God began and continued the humbling process in their own lives and the impact this had on their Christianity. Preachers and evangelists whose successes are heralded in book after book on the shelves of Christian bookstores, reveal glimpses into the hidden recesses of their beings and confess that they were as subject to pride as we are and yet embraced “the way down as the way up” and beckon us to do the same. They cause humility to come alive to us, and by clothing it in their own humanity, make it more attainable than it has ever been before.