TLIC FAMILY. PROVERBS. OCTOBER 2: FORWARD.

THINK TOGETHER.

Do you know any show offs (are you a show off)? What makes show offs so frustrating?    

READ TOGETHER

Proverbs 25:6-7. ⁶Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, ⁷for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.

There’s nothing worse than a show off, a know-it-all, a teacher’s pet. That’s what Solomon is saying in this proverb. Don’t put yourself forward. Don’t try to look better than everyone else. Instead be modest. Do you know what modesty is? To be modest is to be humble and to not exalt yourself, talking about yourself or showing off how smart or cool you are. No one likes that.

Solomon is saying that usually (but not always) it is the modest ones who get told come up here and are made leaders because everyone wants a humble leader, not a leader who is a show off or a know-it-all. Even when it is not true in the world, it will always be true with God. God honors modesty. He hates pride and he loves humility. Just ask Abel, or Moses, or Ruth, or David, or Esther, or of course Jesus.

Jesus didn’t put himself forward. He did the exact opposite. He went lower and lower. He didn’t demand to stay in Heaven on his throne. He left his throne and humbled himself by coming to Earth to die for our sins on the cross. Then, and only then, could the Father say, Come up here! Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven and was seated on his throne again, but only because he had first sacrificed himself out of love for all of us.

And one day Jesus will call all of us to come up here to Heaven. He will exalt us and seat us next to him, and share all of his glory and riches with us. That is why we don’t need to exalt ourselves by being show offs and know-it-alls, and teacher’s pets on Earth. We can be humble like Jesus, we can go lower like he did, knowing that one day we will be raised up like him too.

Because of Jesus we will be exalted to Heaven one day like him.

With Jesus we don’t have to put ourselves forward. We can be modest instead.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Read Philippians 2:1-11 together. How is our humility connected to Jesus’ humility?

PRAY TOGETHER

Jesus, keep showing me how to be humble. I’m not very good at it so I need your help. I know you were humble for me, let me be humble for others. Amen.