Humility Week: God Mocks

“He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.” (Proverbs 3:34)

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2)

So why would anyone not be humble? After talking about all of the benefits of humility this week, we might start wondering why it’s so unusual for us to choose a humble attitude. Here’s one reason: We’re all cowards.

humility_350Seriously. We’re afraid that we’re worthless, weak, dumb, or ugly. We’re terrified of being unloved nobodies. We can’t think of anything worse than being rejected by the people we respect. So we build an armor of arrogance to convince ourselves that we’re pretty good, that we’re not that bad, that we’ve got it going on, after all.

We already know the flaw in that approach, though. God rejects the self-reliant. He tosses down the self-important. As a life strategy, pride leads us in the exact opposite direction of the one we want to go. It leads to disgrace. It leads to worthlessness. It leads to being mocked by God.

God asks us to trust him, instead. He asks us to believe that 1) his opinion of us is the most important, and 2) he will lift us up with him, exalt us, make us somebodies forever.

Think: Have you ever noticed people trying to use pride (bragging, arrogance, smugness) to hide their fear of being worthless? Why does that fail in the long run?

Pray: Ask God to help you to reject pride for any reason and to find grace and wisdom in choosing humility.

Do: If you watch sports, look for examples of humility and pride in action this week.