Teaching the Beatitudes: Humble Helpers

October 19, 2024

In today’s narcissistic and “I”-centered world, humility doesn’t come easily. We don’t want to be seen as weak or have people walk all over us. And we definitely don’t want people taking advantage of our children.

However, the third beatitude reminds us that humility is essential (Matthew 5:5). When we remember that Jesus is the one saying the beatitudes, it reminds us that we can be humble and have boundaries. We can put others’ needs first without neglecting our own. It just takes practice. Here are five ways you can teach humility to your children.

1. Celebrate your children. Not when they accomplish something amazing but just because they are your children. Show them that you love them unconditionally, and when they feel your love, they won’t have to seek accolades because they will know their worth.

2. Practice. Our oldest son loves playing tabletop wargames with his father, and they have attended a few tournaments. But there’s a catch: our child is the youngest player by at least ten years, which means he loses a lot. So, before he ever went to his first tournament, he and his dad spent time practicing what he could say and how he should act when he lost or won. All that practice paid off when he was voted “most sportsmanlike.”

3. Ask them to consider the other person’s feelings. When your child fights with a friend or sibling, ask them to consider how the other person might be feeling about what happened. Or ask them to think about why the other person might have said or acted the way they did. Then, when you know they’ll see that person again, remind your child to listen without trying to come up with a response.

4. Be understanding when they make mistakes. When you need to discipline them, do it with grace. Let your home be a safe place to mess up so your children know they can always turn to you. This will model what it means to be a servant leader and give your children a chance to learn how to admit mistakes instead of pretending they didn’t happen or blaming them on someone else.

5. Serve one another in secret. I once read an article about a teacher who gave her class missions to open the door for others or say good morning to others. At the end of the week, if another teacher mentioned the mission to her, she would give her class a prize. But the trick was the kids couldn’t tell anyone what their mission was. You can copy this idea. Challenge your children to clean something up without being asked (or even something they don’t ordinarily clean). Ask them to let at least one person ahead of them in line at school for no reason. Or walk around your neighborhood with them to pick up trash.

Being humble doesn’t mean we let other people walk all over us. Being humble means we put the needs of others before our own because we love them. Like Jesus, we long to serve instead of being served (Mark 10:45), even if people don’t thank us for our service.

Want to do a deep dive? Check out Family Fire's article Training Children to Hear God's Voice.