The Proud and the Humble

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

THE PROUD AND THE HUMBLE

Luke 1:46-55

 

46 And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."

NIV

Even though we are part of the generation to generation who experiences the mercy of God because we revere Him, He is mindful of our humble state as His servant, and that He has already done great things for us, and we do praise His Holy name, there is more that God has done and is doing. What we see now is a warning of the danger of being proud in our inmost thoughts. Mary's song is prophetic and yet because of the Spirit filling her, she speaks about the pridefulness of the rulers of her day. Yet, the rulers of our day seem to have that same sense of being proud of themselves. We as members of the body of Christ are also warned about being prideful. The Apostle James quotes the proverb that says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” The Apostle Peter also quotes that same proverb. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans said, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low positions. Do not be conceited.” It would seem to us that pridefulness has no room in the heart and mind of a Christian. This is especially true of those who are in positions other than lowly, although we would think that all of us should be of a lowly estate considering we are servants of the Might One, the Lord God Almighty. It might be possible that some of us believers could get perhaps a little, if not more, prideful about the amount of education, or our title, of which there are a vast amount of in the church, or how many things we do, or what we do not do, and thinking more highly of ourselves then we should. There is a danger of being brought down if we even allow this pridefulness in our thoughts. Again, the key to holy living or living in a manner that pleases God, is to live a humble life. However, this could also bring us to prideful thoughts, if we say to ourselves, or others, “See how humble I am”. We must be careful not to think we are being so holy because we are humble. Although it is difficult to be humble and not think it is good to be humble, if we consider our lowly estate, our lack of abilities, skills, training, and everything else we do not have, then maybe we might see our true humility before God and men. We need to allow God to lift us up rather than making our own efforts to lift ourselves up. Can we decide to be humble without being prideful about being humble? It would seem that is the key to living humbly before the Lord.