The Few, The Proud

1 Peter 3:8-9 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Did you ever hear about the pastor who was so humble he declared it to the entire congregation on Sunday morning? 🙂 Pride often strikes us when we least expect it. It puts us in a position of feeling or attempting to be more important than others. If left unchecked, pride can ruin relationships. It can cause us to be unforgiving, it can cause us to be unloving toward others, and ultimately, it will cause a downhill slide in your relationship with the one and only true God. When we become proud, we put ourselves above others; forgetting all of the teaching of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our King of Kings and Lord of Lords did not enter the world as a wealthy king, nor did he live his life as such, and He certainly did not exit this world as a prideful man. His entire existence was humble. His humility, his humbleness, allowed Him to reach the lost. He served them displaying all of the true signs of love. Had He been prideful, the love of the Father would never shine through His life.

It is of no coincidence that humbleness is a key to loving others, and it allows us to be sympathetic, and to be compassionate. For once we raise ourselves above others, we lose those qualities that display Christ’s love.

Later in 1 Peter, we read these words yet again: 1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. For God to lift us up, we must be humble. We must remember that we are here to serve Him; not for God to serve us, just as in the way we should show His love to others by serving them. Having a difficult time in your life? How humble have you been during this trial in your life? All of this is wrapped up into being humble. You see…when we remember that we are not important, we remember that God is most important, and when we remember this fact, we open our hearts for God to work in our lives. We stop dwelling in our own glory and start dwelling in His glory, and all of your anxiety can be put on Him. You will remember that God cares for you.

Does it seem to you that we find so many proud people, but so few humble people? When you think back on your life, was it a proud person who showed you love and made a significant impact on you or was it someone who humbled himself and made you more important than themselves? As you deal with difficult people, difficult circumstances, God calls on us not to repay those people with evil, but to be humble and love them. When you dealt with a difficult boss this week, did you show humbleness? When you were faced with a difficult situation with your family, did you humble yourself, or did you become one of the proud? When you hurt someone in the past, did you humble yourself to apologize or were you too proud to ask for forgiveness? Praise the Lord that Jesus was not too proud to humble himself for us, die on the cross for our sins, and forgive all who will believe in Him.

As we walk into the world this weekend, we need to remember not to be one of the proud, but be one of “the few” who is humble showing love to all people. When you feel the urge to be proud this weekend, to feel and be more important than the person next to you; remember that God did not call just a few of us to be sympathetic, loving, and compassionate; He called ALL of us to be like minded, to love one another…to be humble.

8 thoughts on “The Few, The Proud

  1. Welcome to the world of blogging, Jeremy! I personally am humbled to be part of a company of so many brothers and sisters in Christ who with insight and talent exhort and encourage one another through this medium. A beautiful stream of blessing flows as the we yield to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and enabling.

  2. Thank you for the good Word from the Lord today Jeremy. This is something I struggle with. The Lord has taught me a lot about this over the past couple of years. I thought of this passage back in the mid-90s while I was in basic training. I was running on the track for the morning physical training and there were a lot more soldiers on the track and in the exercise area than usual. An older guy starting running beside me and told me I had a good pace going. I thanked him and we started talking as we ran together. He imparted some running advice to me as well as some other army advice and was very kind to me. The whole time I referred to him as Sergeant because officers were almost never on that field. After the run I thanked him and we shook hands and parted ways. As he walked over to his group one of the men referred to him as General. I had been referring to this man as a Sergeant and he was a General and not just a General but the commander of an infantry division. He had every right to dress me down, to punish me, and to lord it over me. He didn’t, he was kind, he was humble and he took the time to teach me. I thought “How like Christ!” He was one of the few. That Sunday I found out the answer to the question that was on my mind. The General was there at the Infantry Chapel for Sunday service.

    1. What a great example of this in practice, David!!! This reminds me of Luke 9:48: 48 Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”

      This is surely the case, and what God calls us to be.

  3. Ouch and Amen! When I reflect on how others humbleness has blessed me, it reminds me of how much God uses humbleness to us to love others. Not just those that think, act and look like us, but everyone. Humbleness is hard. It hurts sometimes. It makes us raw. And it can only be displayed through the power of Holy Spirit. I know I am too weak and prideful to do it on my own!

    1. “Humbleness is hard.” I’m going to put that down as the understatement of the century. 🙂 I really struggle with this. It definitely hurts and makes us raw. It’s interesting to me that this hit a nerve with a lot of people. I guess most of us need to work on it.

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