Humble Circumstances

The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.

James 1:9-10

I grew up on the wrong side of town -- if a town of 750 people can have a right or wrong side. Although I won't say anyone in our town was rich, the railroad tracks basically divided the haves and the have-nots and we lived on the wrong side of the tracks. My parents struggled to keep food on the table for their eleven children, even with a huge garden, food stamps and a business that allowed them to buy food at wholesale prices. We were poor and the entire town, perhaps the entire county, knew it.

Yet I remember as a kid thinking that while I was not good enough for most of my classmates, I was still better than certain families in town. At least my parents worked to put food on the table and our family didn't need Special Ed for any, let alone most of our kids.

I am pretty sure this is not the kind of pride in humble circumstances that James is recommending in his letter. When we compare ourselves to others, we will always find someone to make us look good and someone to make us look bad. Our standard needs to be set higher than other people -- it needs to be Christ.

Human interpretation of what is a high or low position does not match God's. We tend to look at circumstances, actions and other outward appearances, but God looks at the heart.

We have all experienced circumstances where we may wonder where is God in this. Sometimes I can even convince others that I am humbly walking with God through the difficult times, when in reality, my pride is preventing me from doing so. Yet, in each of these circumstances, I know that God still walks beside me, holding me up. It is when I rely fully on Him that I am truly in the high position of true humility.


Heavenly Father, help me to be humble in all things, whether the world sees me as in a high position or a low position. I know that my worth comes solely from You and Your Son's sacrifice on the Cross. I want to live my life in a way that points to You and not to me. Help me to be a witness to all those around me by my life. I pray this in the name of Your Precious Son, my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Prejudice Against Pride

I tend to be a very prideful person. It comes from being a descendant of Adam and Eve. I do not always let that pride show in my actions and attitudes, but it is there. It is there when I decide that I am going to eat the extra snack that I know I shouldn’t eat. It is there when I decide that I am going to take that last box of whatever off the grocery store shelf even though it is obvious that someone else is shopping for the same item. It is there when I decide that I am going to spend an hour reading instead of doing housework. And most assuredly, it is there when I decide to ignore God.

Oh, I often convince myself that I am not choosing to ignore God, I simply do so unintentionally. Yet, I am still ignoring Him and that is a choice. A choice motivated by pride. One of the many places that God warns us about pride comes from a teenage girl blessed beyond her wildest imagination and still humble in her reaction.

“His mercy extends to those who fear Him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
but has lifted up the humble.” (Luke 1:50-52 NIV)

These words were part of the celebration that Mary had with her relative Elizabeth after learning that she would be the mother of God’s Son. She had been chosen because of her humility, and her humility stayed in tact throughout the ordeal. Mary does not point out that God has lifted up the humble as a way of false humility, but as praise to God for what He has done for her and was doing in her. Through humility, God extended His mercy towards her.

The most convicting part of Mary’s song is the reminder that God knows when we are proud in our inmost thoughts. See, that is often the only place that my pride can be seen. But it is still there. That is what false pride is – our inner-most thoughts of pride surfacing as humility.
It is my desire and my goal this year to seek God in all that I do, to eliminate pride in my innermost thoughts by focusing on God and not on myself. This blog will show my heart. A heart that hopefully will become more and more pure as I become more and more like my Savior.