February 14, 2024 7:00 pm
Like many teachers, Carrie devotes countless hours to her career, often grading papers and communicating with students and parents late into the evening. To sustain the effort, she relies on her community of colleagues for camaraderie and practical help; her challenging job is made easier through collaboration. A recent study of educators found that the benefit of collaboration is magnified when those we work with demonstrate humility. When colleagues are willing to admit their weaknesses, others feel safe to share their knowledge with one another, effectively helping everyone in the group.
The Bible teaches the importance of humility—for much more than enhanced collaboration. “Fear[ing] the Lord”—having a right understanding of who we are in comparison to the beauty, power, and majesty of God—results in “riches and honor and life” (Proverbs 22:4). Humility leads us to living in community in a way that’s fruitful in God’s economy not just the world’s because we seek to benefit our fellow image-bearers.
We don’t fear God as a way to gain “riches and honor and life” for ourselves—that wouldn’t be true humility at all. Instead, we imitate Jesus, who “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:7) so we can become part of a body that humbly cooperates together to do His work, give Him honor, and take a message of life to the world around us.
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Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. I'm Kirsten Holmberg, and I titled our reading Humility's Perk. Like many teachers, Keri devotes countless hours to her career, often grading papers and communicating with students and parents late into the evening. To sustain the effort, she relies on her community of colleagues for camaraderie and practical help. Her challenging job is made easier through collaboration. A recent study of educators found that the benefit of collaboration is magnified when those we work with demonstrate humility.
When colleagues are willing to admit their weaknesses, others feel safe to share their knowledge with one another, effectively helping everyone in the group. The Bible teaches the importance of humility for much more than enhanced collaboration. Fearing the Lord—having a right understanding of who we are in comparison with the beauty, power, and majesty of God—results in riches and honor and life. Humility leads us to living in community in a way that's fruitful in God's economy, not just the world's, because we seek to benefit our fellow image bearers. We don't fear God as a way to gain riches and honor and life for ourselves. That wouldn't be true humility at all. Instead, we imitate Jesus, who made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, so we can become part of a body that humbly cooperates together to do his work, give him honor, and take a message of life to the world around us.
Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Proverbs 22, verses 1 through 5. A good name is more desirable than great riches. To be esteemed is better than silver or gold. Rich and poor have this in common. The Lord is the maker of them all. The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. Humanity is the fear of the Lord.
Its wages are riches and honor and life. In the paths of the wicked are snares and pitfalls, but those who would preserve their life stay far from them. Let's pray, Jesus, we surrender our pride to you. It's in your name we pray. Amen.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-02-14 21:07:48 / 2024-02-14 21:09:09 / 1
