Copyright © 2011 Grace Family Church of Rhode Island

Have you ever tasted a dish so delicious you asked for the recipe and were told it’s a secret? Restaurants, cookie makers and homemakers sometimes closely guard their recipes and won’t reveal the secret ingredients to anyone.

Well, some might, for the right price. I saw an auction on eBay for a steak seasoning recipe. The asking price was a million dollars. I couldn’t find out if it actually sold for that amount, but the seller promised it would be worth it.

What would you pay for a secret recipe that could change your life? Would you pay a million dollars? More? If you saw an item on eBay guaranteed to help you get along with everyone and have no more arguments, fights, unhappiness or people problems of any kind, would you bid? Or would you say, that’s impossible. Nothing can do that.

I’m going to let you in on the secret, and you don’t have to place a bid or get out your credit card. I’ll tell you for free, although it’s not free. It’s called the Secret H Factor, and it’s found in Philippians 2:3 to 5: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (NIV). The price for the Secret H Factor is laying down the self and giving up pride and self-centeredness.

I could have called it the missing H factor as it seems more and more scarce. It’s missing at the dinner table when families get in arguments. It’s missing in the classrooms when students disrespect teachers and other students. It’s missing in relationships when pride keeps people from apologizing.

Where is humility in politics, the media, sports, shopping centers –church? It’s gone missing and it is sorely missed. Just like salt in soup, a little humility can go a long way toward making life better.

The IVP New Testament Commentary calls humility the cure to “the ills that beset our Christian communities--including that most fragile of institutions, the Christian family.”

It is neither false modesty nor falsely considering others better than ourselves. “Rather it has to do with a proper estimation of oneself, the stance of the creature before the Creator, utterly dependent and trusting. Here one is well aware both of one’s weaknesses and of one’s glory (we are in God’s image, after all) but makes neither too much nor too little of either. True humility is therefore not self-focused at all but rather, as further defined by Paul, considers others better than yourselves” (IVP New Testament Commentary, Philippians 2:4).

Humility comes from the mind of Christ, which is beautifully described in Philippians 2:5 to 11, also called the Philippians Hymn. And his mind, a mind of wonders and unimaginable grace, holds the secret and missing ingredient of harmony and peace. If only laying down the self and giving up our pride were as easy as getting out our credit cards.