Humility – Sermon Illustration Ideas

Appropriately Self-Centered

adolescent, contributing members of society, Development, egocentrism, Empathy, Humility, Self-centered, Serve, Service

Did you know that our brains aren’t fully developed until our mid- to late twenties? So the idea that every person, especially adolescents and adults,…

Get Low

ego, Humility, posture, Pride, Temptation

Humility reveals itself in our actions. Prostrating, bowing, and other gestures show the posture of being humble. In his 2006 song “Get Low,” Lecrae…

Reflection

Children, Hopeful, Humility, Parenting, scary

One of the most hopeful and scariest parts of parenting is knowing that your children will imitate what they see you do. When your…

Leadership in Meekness

Humility, Leadership, Meekness, Trusting God

In the book LEAD…forGod’s Sake!: A Parable for Finding the Heart of Leadership, a basketball coach befriends the school janitor, who teaches him about…

A Know-It-All Attitude

God's Plans, Humility, Knowledge, Recognizing, Relationship with God

Have you ever dealt with a know-it-all? It’s incredibly annoying. If you have any reasonable amount of knowledge about something they’re describing, you will…

Greatness

God's Greatness, His greatness, Humility, Love, Lowliness, Power, Pride, Pursuit, Selfishness

Jesus’s understanding of greatness differs greatly from his disciples’ understanding of greatness. According to Jesus, greatness in the kingdom of heaven is defined by…

Nosing Around

Humility, Judging, Maturity

On the sitcom Blackish, the Johnson family lives in a predominantly white neighborhood and has a nosy neighbor named Janine. The final episode of…

Gratitude

Dignity, Gratitude, Humility, Leadership, Relationships

Sheldon Yellen, CEO of BELFOR Holdings Inc., writes 9,200 holiday and birthday cards every year: one for every employee. He started this gesture in…

Great Leaders Lead By Example

Attitude, Christ's Example, Encounters, Example, Humility, Leadership, Servant-leadership

In a memorable scene from Remember the Titans (directed by Boaz Yakin [Buena Vista Pictures, 2000]), Julius Campbell and Gerry Bertier get into an…

A Simple Act Of Humility

Humble, Humility, Leadership, Servant-leadership, Servanthood, Serving Others

Sheldon Yellen, CEO of BELFOR Holdings Inc., handwrites birthday and holiday cards to each of his employees every year: 9,200 of them. He started…

Humility Over Prestige

Humble, Humility, Power, Relationships

Dave Anderson relates a story about a powerful man choosing humility instead of prestige. Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn turned down breakfast with…

The Magnifying Glass of Truth

Confession, Evil, Humility, Mercy, Repentance, Truth

The film Promising Young Woman (directed by Emerald Fennell [Focus Features, 2020]) provides a powerful example of what it looks like when the magnifying…

A Dramatic Knighting

Humble, Humility, Jesus, Son of God

In A Knight’s Tale (directed by Brian Helgeland [Columbia Pictures, 2001]), Prince Edward knights Sir William in dramatic fashion. William, supposedly a man from…

Nelson Mandela on Humility

Humble, Humility, Leadership, Pride, Transformation

In 2000, Oprah Winfrey interviewed Nelson Mandela on the topic of humility. Mandela claimed that inner humility is the only means by which we…

The Humble King

Humility, Jesus, Jesus Christ, King Jesus, Kingship

In The Avengers (directed by Joss Whedon [Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2012]), Loki terrorizes a crowd after having publicly killed a man. He…

Confessional Booth

Confessing Sin, Confession, Humility, Hypocrisy, Repentance, Responsibility

Christians are so hypocritical! We’ve all heard this statement before—and sadly, it’s often true! “In his book Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller tells the…

The Offensive Line

Humility, Quiet, Recognition, Serving

Most people can name famous quarterbacks—people like Joe Montana, Brett Favre, and Tom Brady. But fewer people can name the offensive line that snapped…

Humble Witnesses

Evangelism, Humility, Kindness, Sharing Faith, Witness

Disabled medical student Zoie Sheets has shared some helpful reflections on how medical professionals should approach “Google warriors”—patients who have compiled their own research…

Charles Spurgeon’s ‘The Carrot and the Horse’

Generosity, Humility, Motivations, Sacrifice, The Heart

There is a story attributed to Charles Spurgeon. It goes like this: a gardener presents his king with the greatest carrot he has ever…

Our Good Teacher

God's Kindness, Humility, Submission, Teacher, Worship

“Imagine a second-grade teacher commending one of her pupils for a good job on a one-paragraph essay and indicating that the pupil had the…