Piper on Humility

Here's something from John Piper's What Jesus Demands from the World (p. 131):

In Matthew 18:4 Jesus says, "Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." The Greek verb for "humble" did not generally describe a positive virtue in Jesus' day. It meant generally to crush, bring down, afflict, humiliate, and degrade. The word was chosen because Jesus' demand was not a romantic one, as though childlikeness was sweet and easy. For a strong, self-confident, self-sufficient, intelligent, resourceful, controlling person, Jesus' demand was devastating. Jesus knew that children were not the models for imitation in his day. The reason he chose them is because of "their powerlessness and their low social standing." His demand is that we end our love affair with power and status and self-sufficiency and rights and control."