What is your source of significance? This proverb challenges us to view the world upside down compared to the rest of our culture. It's similar to how Jesus taught us to live in the Sermon on the Mount — to not live for the here and now, but to live for the Kingdom of God here and now because we know our Father in heaven sees us and values what we do.* God values humility and our willingness to be identified with the lowly and oppressed — again, similar to how Jesus lived. Abusive power and arrogance are not pleasing to God. God didn't just give us this proverb; he sent us his Son to demonstrate it.** Now, if we will only choose to live this truth. And Jesus challenges us to display it when he says, "Follow me!" For...
Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.
* Notice this emphasis on how we do our acts of piety in
Matthew 6:1-2, 3-4, 6, 17-18.
** Paul uses Jesus' example to instruct the Philippians to live this way in
Philippians 2:5-11.
Father, I do recognize my weakness and vulnerability to temptation, to the lure of my culture's facades, and to the pressure to be like the "popular crowd." Thank you for Jesus: You had power but displayed humility, and you had position but identified with the abandoned, forgotten, and rejected. Please use me to be a difference-maker in my world by including those who are left out, forgotten, and disenfranchised. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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