Proverbs 12:8-9
A person is praised in accordance with his wisdom,
but the one who has a twisted mind is despised.
Better is a person of humble standing who nevertheless has a servant,
than one who pretends to be somebody important yet has no food.
Humility is a big part of wisdom. At least from what I read. In fact, I would warn you – if you encounter someone who is proud, beware! Danger! Danger! Danger! I wouldn’t trust them, at least not until you’ve truly gotten to know them. Sure we all struggle with stuff, and that might be their struggle – but I’ve found pride to be a pretty telling sign of other major issues.
Have you ever found yourself standing around talking about how awesome someone is? I know I’ve been in on some of those conversations. At least in the Christian circles that I tend to run, the people we talk about are the ones who are living examples of Biblical values. They may have a great faith or be incredibly wise. They might be a hard-working servant or a humble leader. Whatever it is we’re talking about, it’s always the humble people who seem to garner the most praise.
Sure, there are people who are proud who get praise too. But, often times that’s more obligatory because of the position or role they hold and not because they exhibit the characteristics you would hope to find.
Instead, the people we talk about are the ones who are incredibly wise. Those who are humble and understand that everything they do is being done in them by Christ and his power. They understand that they are flawed beings and if they aren’t continually submitting to Christ and his ways, they will too easily find themselves living in areas of self instead of sacrifice.
It doesn’t take much to get us off course, just little things here and there. So, be careful to keep your eyes looking forward. Stay focused. Don’t allow yourself to become distracted with you. Instead, always stay focused on Christ and living out His word in your life.
It is better to be humble even when you have every reason to brag than to brag and pretend to be someone when you’re not. It is better to be wise and not draw attention to yourself for your own wisdom than to try to twist people’s perception of you so they see you as wise. When you are wise and humble – people will praise you behind your back. When you are twisted and a pretender – people will not say nice things about you.
So really, you have the power to control how people talk about you when you’re not around. The question is, are you willing to be the right kind of person?
