Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant.
If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you.
But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty."
- Matthew 23:11-12 -
So I believe the huge theme in these two powerful verses is humility. In my NIV bible, humility is defined as "the absence of pride." We live in a world nowadays that is slap full of pride. People are always competing to be better than others and boasting about their own successes. Am I wrong? Everyone gets caught doing this don't get me wrong. Whenever you are successful in something or can do something really well, you are proud of yourself and tend to want others to notice your talents too. However, pride is also defined in my NIV bible as well. Pride (negative): the attitude that one is better than others; Pride (positive): a healthy self-respect or sense of satisfaction. Yup, there's two definitions of pride! Good and bad..like everything else in the world. The good approach to pride is being able to perform something well and feeling satisfied with yourself about how YOU did. However, the bad approach can start out as the same thing..but lead to something destructive. Bad pride comes from thinking how you perform something is much better than others. I'm sure you can easily think of an example of each right now where you have either been caught in both scenarios or know of someone who has. Either way, there is healthy pride and destructive pride.
Matthew 23:11-12 tells us what will become of us when we have both types of pride. Healthy pride leads to a fruitful life. A life that has satisfaction and self-respect for yourself and for others (hint..servant.) But, destructive pride will leave you lower than where you started with nothing to account for. Jesus instructs us to STEP DOWN if we want to STAND OUT. Gosh, society tells us the complete opposite!!! Society tells us we have to do something crazy to stand out, we have to pretend to be something we're not! But Jesus says, if we enjoy being who we are, who He created us to be, and enjoy serving and promoting others, then life will be fine. If we're humble, then we will be rewarded. "Your life will count for plenty." Now that's a sweet promise.
So don't feel like you have to boast about yourself or the work you have done. Especially work done for the Lord. Too many Christians nowadays want to post on facebook, twitter, instagram, and whatever else that they're going to church, serving at a Christian camp, posting verses, etc. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying doing that stuff is bad (I do the same thing..)..but it's why you're posting it. Are you posting the verse because you found it really interesting, helpful, encouraging, etc. and would like to share to fellow friends? Or are you posting it because you want everyone to know that you're a "Christian" because you're posting it? The latter is a result of pride..of boasting yourself to be better than possibly non-Christians. So, before you start doing things that seem harmless or normal..think of the reason why you're doing...is it prideful? And then is it the good kind of pride..or the bad? Be humble in all things you do. Have humility.
One last thing that crossed my mind about having humility. God created each and every single one of us. He is the reason why we have certain talents, fortunes, successes, and anything else that we may boast about. So why in God's green earth are we boasting about ourselves when He is the one that has allowed us to have these things? It isn't like we granted them upon ourselves! He has given them to us. If it weren't for Him then we wouldn't have anything to be proud of at all. But He has given us certain talents and fortunes so that we can turn around and give it all back to our Almighty God instead of ourselves. We can boast about how great our Father is!!! We should always be humble and always show humility because if it weren't for the Lord, we would have nothing. His blessings are what should humble us because we do not deserve them..yet He gives them to us anyways. When we are happy with ourselves and current standing, that is being thankful for what the Lord has given us. So do not "puff yourself up," but put yourself down before the Lord.
These are the many thoughts that crossed my mind while thinking about these verses. My own thoughts may or may not make sense, but I hope Matthew 23:11-12 spark some of your own thoughts. Humility has always been one thing I always try to live by. I always try to maintain a humble character and boast others before myself. These verses were very encouraging to me by reminding me of this and why to do so. :)
As always, God Bless!
