Be Humble Or Be Humbled!

• How does being around an arrogant person make you feel?

• What does it mean to be exalted?

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Luke 18:14

Let’s set the stage for this verse from Luke. Jesus is sharing a parable with some people who were behaving arrogantly.

In the parable, two men go into the temple to pray. One is a Pharisee, and one is a tax collector.

The Pharisee prays, “God, thank you for making me better than everyone else, especially this tax collector. I am so awesome.”

The tax collector stands begging God for mercy.

Jesus tells his listeners that it is the tax collector who went home justified. When we try to exalt ourselves, as the Pharisee does in this example, there is no room in our hearts for God. We are too full of ourselves, and God can’t do anything with us.

However, when we are humble, God can and will use us. He will use us to accomplish his work, and we will be glorified. And this glory will last for eternity.

If we work for our own glory, we may find some, but it won’t last long. We are all going to die and stand before God. What good will our arrogance be to us at that moment? We will most definitely be humbled then. We would do much better to humble ourselves now.

PRAYER
Dear God, thank you for exalting the humble. Give us humility before you, serving only you, not ourselves and our vanity. Amen.