“Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, And before honor is humility.”
Proverbs 18:12
The entire book of Proverbs is a book written to give instruction, to impart wisdom. The first nine chapters are written with a strong personal connection between the teacher and the student…my son, listen to your father’s instruction. And, as you go through these chapters, the son is reminded time and again to listen and follow the instructions.
But can we hear without listening? Yes, we know how easy it is to nod our heads without any intention of heeding the advice. That is, putting the advice into practice. But, what is it that causes this break in communication or readiness to ignore what we are being advised?
At the most basic level, we could say that we think we are right in whatever path we are pursuing and the advice we are being given is wrong. Would you agree that we could describe this as being ‘self-right’? If you do, you would have to agree that in this case you could be described as self-righteous!
It doesn’t sound as good when we call it by this name. But, if we are honest, we always act on the basis of thinking that what we are doing at the moment is the right thing to do. The only problem is who is defining what is right at that moment. In the case of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying together in the temple in Luke 18, we hear in their prayers that the Pharisee is confident that he has done everything right. The tax collector, on the other hand, is beating his chest honestly about the fact that much of what he has been doing may have been right in his own eyes at the moment, but these things were clearly wrong in the sight of God — and he is coming clean with them.
The commendation from Jesus for the tax collector is that he was humble before the Lord. And, this humility is the link between wisdom offered and wisdom received. If we have a humble spirit, we are looking for the right definer of truth outside ourselves. We are not self-righteous but God-righteous. Without this heart attitude all the wisdom in the world is useless.
Finally, we can be reminded that humility is commanded (necessary) to be applied toward God’s representatives: parents, elders, leaders. This is not to say that God’s representatives can’t be in error, but our going in attitude must be respectful in our judgement with a heart of thankfulness for them that will guard us against self presumption.
This reminds of our our need to confess our sins, so let’s prepare our hearts by singing.
Matt Meyer – June 2, 2024
