James 4:10
Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.
A Star Trek episode years ago found Commander Data (an extremely intelligent android) having his highly sophisticated computer mind reprogrammed by a dying computer engineer who secretly “downloads” his mind into Data’s circuits before he perishes. At the funeral for the engineer, the re-programmed android proceeds to deliver a funeral oration for the engineer—-essentially an opportunity for the engineer to use Data’s mouth to praise himself to the skies (as is his custom). He describes himself as a man of “towering humility”, a man of such “unbridled meekness” that “to know him was to love him. Those who knew him, loved him. Those who did not know him… loved him from afar!” Not surprisingly, the good crew of the Enterprise soon notice that Data is acting odd and track it down to the fact that the gigantic ego of the computer engineer has refused to go gently into the grave. Pride, unlike humility, has that peculiar quality of never being able to conceal itself. It is incorrigibly self-revealing. It demands attention and notice. Humility, in contrast, is revealed, not by ourselves, but by God. Mother Teresa didn’t go to Calcutta in order to become famous. God exalted her. Likewise, David didn’t kill Goliath in order to get on the evening news. He did it because he loved God and was passionate about Goliath’s insults to the God of Israel. Today, drop the struggle to make your name known or to win that accolade from so-and-so. Humble yourself and God will exalt you in his time and way.
