November 18

Nov 18 - Today from Proverbs 18 we look at verse 12
"Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor."

When pride involves self, it will eventually end in downfall. Why is that? Because pride is when one attempts to elevate self to a superior position. In the Hebrew, the term literally means to 'mount up'. It was pride that stimulated man to attempt the tower of Babel; he was going to mount up to heaven in his own ability and strength. Man was doomed to fall from such a position. Where ever man attempts to exalt himself, it is there that he is self-deceived. He has built a house of cards that will not stand because it stands contrary to God's purposes and intents. How can any mortal man ever conceive the idea that he can successfully rise above and prosper against the purposes of the eternal Creator? Satan himself attempted - and failed.
Humility is just the opposite of pride. Rather than elevating self, it elevates others. Jesus clearly brings forth this principle in Luke 14:7-11. He basically says that when invited to a wedding feast, one should not appoint himself to take a place of honor at the table. One who is deemed more important may show up and you will have to take a lesser seat. It is better to take the least important seat at the table, and if he so deems, the host will move you to a better seat. The proud (self-important), will be humiliated and the humble (those who elevate others), will be promoted. It's a kingdom principle that goes much deeper than the social order of seating at a wedding banquet.
The apostle Paul wrote it this way in Philippians 4:3, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." People who live that way are seldom disappointed and often pleasantly surprised. And they are the kind of people others like to be around.
Allow me to give you a simple example from personal experience. As a rule my wife and I keep Thursday evening clear for our 'date night'. In the midst of our crowded schedules we committed to keep one night apart just for ourselves - to catch up on each other's lives and to keep our relationship focused. We usually go out to one of the local restaurants and have a nice leisurely meal together. This experience happened on such an evening. Soon after we were seated a young man came to wait on us. I would guess he was one of the local college students. He asked how we were doing and we responded with the cordial, "We are doing just fine. And how about you? How are you?"
"I am just awesome! My name is Doug, and you have the privilege of having top service tonight! Now, what can I get you to drink?"
Doug set himself up. By proclaiming himself to be awesome and top service, he had to either be awesome or there was no other direction to go but down - and boy did he. He served our meals without table service. He neglected to get my wife a refill on her soda after asking her if he could. When she finally got his attention while some friends at a nearby table were distracting him, he replied in a too loud voice, "I know." By time her refill came she was finished and we were ready to go. 'Awesome Doug' scored very low on our service scale - and even worse he promoted himself to be at the top of the scale. We were merciful and gave him his 15%, but we walked out of the restaurant with a very low opinion of Doug's opinion of himself. He may be a good kid - but if he were more humble, others might see that goodness. Instead of looking for the person that Doug truly may be, he caused us to look for something that he is not - awesome and top service.
I share this illustration not to put Doug down. I share it as an illustration of something that lives in us all - our pride. Pride cries out for others to see us in some ideal manner. This results in others seeking us only in such a manner. When we cannot live up to the ideal of our pride, we fall. Why raise expectations for everyone? Why not start out in humility, and allow people to discover for themselves the goodness of God in each of us? This is accomplished by having the heart of a servant. People don't really care to hear us boast about how qualified or how good we are. The true character of God is revealed in our humble service to others.
"Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." -Matthew 5:16