THINK TOGETHER.
Do you remember what humility is? Do you know any humble people?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 22:4. The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.
Do you remember what humility is?
Humility is putting others first above yourself. Someone once said that humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of your self less. Of course Solomon adds to humility the fear of the Lord. These two things always go together. To fear the Lord is to honor him and respect him, caring about what he cares about the most. When we do this first, we will naturally be more humble, thinking about ourselves less.
Then Solomon says that there is a reward for living your life this way – God first, others second, self last. The reward is riches, honor, and [a good] life.
Now if you're thinking along with me, you may be realizing that this sounds backwards. If I put myself last, how will I ever get honor and riches and a good life. And the world around you would agree. The world we live in says that we have to look out for ourselves first and THEN we can give some time and money to others – the left overs.
But God says the opposite. Jesus DID the opposite. On the cross, he put God and others first and himself last. And what happened? God exalted him and gave him eternal life in Heaven, ruling everything forever. When we trust in Jesus and connect our lives to his, we realize that God will do the same exact thing for us. He will raise us up, exalt us, and seat us in Heaven, helping Jesus rule.
Knowing this should make us humble. We don't need to look out for our own honor and glory. We can let God give us his in Jesus.
Because of Jesus we will be honored and given eternal life.
With Jesus we can be humble, putting God and others first.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Check out the I Am Second website together. Listen to some of the stories of those who have learned to put God and others first.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, with you I don't have to seek my own honor and glory, I can just trust you to honor me and lift me up like you did Jesus. Amen.
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