Like many teachers, Carrie devotes countless hours to her career, often marking 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 own 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 with the beauty, power and majesty of God—results in “riches and honour 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 honour 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 honour and take a message of life to the world around us.
By Kirsten Holmberg
REFLECT & PRAY
What does humility mean to you? How have you seen someone’s humility benefit others?
Dear Jesus, I surrender my pride to you.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The book of Proverbs is both helpful and challenging. It’s helpful because it offers us wisdom for living. What’s wisdom? It can be defined as the appropriate application of knowledge and understanding to life situations. Which of us doesn’t need that? Clearly, we all do—and it’s readily available. James wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5 ). Our wise God is the true and ultimate source of wisdom. What makes the Proverbs challenging, however, is that they offer general insight on how life works best—not ironclad promises. When we attempt to make them into guarantees, we try to prove too much. It’s better to let them guide us in wise, humble living without placing on them the expectation of specific outcomes.
Bill Crowder
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