Today we are going to meet two people. One is named Mr. Pride, the other is named Mr. Humble.
Let’s talk about Mr. Pride. At first, people think he is pretty cool. You can hear people laughing and having a good time when they are around him. Everyone wants to sit at his lunch table. If you are not at his lunch table, you are not a cool kid.
Now let’s talk about Mr. Humble. He doesn’t have so many friends at first. He’s not as loud as Mr. Pride. He might not have so many people sitting at his table. He even gets made fun of by the Pride crowd! But he doesn’t mind so much.
One day, Mr. Pride decided to get Mr. Humble to cry. So, he started making fun of the way Mr. Humble helped some of the kids clean up some spilled milk. “Oh! Look at the baby Humble! Waaa waaa! I spilled my baby bottle full of milk! Baby Humble, baby Humble needs his dipey changed!” Pretty soon everyone was laughing at Mr. Humble, even though he wasn’t even the one who spilled the milk. But Mr. Humble didn’t say anything…even though he really wanted to. Then, at recess, Mr. Humble decided to sit with the boy who broke his arm last week. He knew the boy couldn’t join in the games and had to sit all alone. So Mr. Humble decided it must be pretty lonely for the broken-arm boy. He decided to sit and talk, even though it was more fun to play soccer. Mr. Pride saw the boys sitting off to the side and had to go make fun of them. “Oh look! Baby Humble can’t play soccer because his mamma won’t give him permission! But it’s for the best, anyway. He would lose soccer if he tried to play. Everyone knows I’m the best! No one has ever scored a goal off of me!” Everyone laughed at Mr. Humble.
During math hour, Mr. Pride decided to tell everyone what he made on the last test. “Look! I got a 98 on my test! I’m pretty much the smartest person here. No one else made a 98.” Mr. Humble quietly looked at his test. 100! He scored perfectly on his test! But he decided he better not brag about it. He knew his friend Joey had been having trouble in math and would feel hurt if he rubbed his 100 in his face.
You might know some people that sound like Mr. Pride. Pride is thinking that we are better than others. It’s thinking about ourselves, and not caring how other people are feeling.
Humility (humbleness) is thinking about other people more than ourselves. It is not thinking we are the best, but that maybe someone else might be even better than we are, even if we are pretty good at something.
The bible talks a lot about pride, and how it is a bad thing. It even says pride is how we are destroyed!
If you remember from our example, Mr. Pride always made fun of others, and thought he was the best. He had a lot of friends, though. Do you think those people really wanted to be his friends, or were they maybe afraid of being made fun of, so they laughed and sat at his table? I think they were afraid! They knew Mr. Pride was going to make fun of SOMEBODY, they just hoped it wouldn’t be them! Mr. Humble was much nicer to be around. He was helping others all the time and thinking about how he could make them feel better. He didn’t lift himself up, but he lifted others up! Why do you think he didn’t have as many friends, even though he was a better friend? (accept answers)
I don’t know that there is a great answer to this question. Sometimes people are friends with mean people just because they are afraid. Sometimes they think they will be popular if they are with the mean crowd.
Does that mean humble people never have friends? No! When people start to pay attention, they will see that humble people are much better to be around!
What about when people make fun of someone for doing something good and pleasing to God. Who are they really making fun of? God! The Bible says that one day he will take care of them. They won’t be laughing at God any more. But to the humble God will give grace. Do you know what grace is? It is getting something that you don’t deserve. For example, Jesus forgiving our sins in grace! We don’t deserve to have our sins forgiven. But Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins anyway. Even though we have done nothing to deserve it. That is grace! God will show grace to those who think of others. He will give them things they don’t deserve. Good things.
How do we not think of ourselves, but think of others? That’s pretty hard to do! When mom says the kids get to pick what’s for dinner, do you want YOUR favorite foods, or your brothers? YOURS OF COURSE! What about at school? Do you want to be the first one picked for the soccer team at recess? YES! Do you jump for joy when your sister gets a prize at the store and you don’t? Of course not! It’s natural for us to think of ourselves. But God wants us to think of others. He tells us to love God with all our hearts and love our neighbors (everyone around us) like we love ourselves. But if this isn’t natural, how do we do it?
With the help of the Holy Spirit. That’s why Jesus promised we would have a helper! Because we need him! When you find you are thinking about yourself, ask God the Holy Spirit to help you think of others more. He will remind you when you are being selfish. He might even tug at your heart when you see someone being made fun of, and tell you to go sit with them. He can give you courage, too. You only have to trust in God. He will help. He might even remind you of Jesus! The best example of being humble is Jesus. Jesus was in heaven before he was born in a human body. He is God the Son! He deserved to be treated better than a king! But one day, he decided to wash his own disciple’s feet! They had been walking all day, and their feet were filthy! Dirt all over, and it was disgusting between their toes! But Jesus humbled himself to wash their feet. He was teaching them to think of others. If God the Son can wash feet, we can surely think of other people before ourselves!
Do you think it is better to be proud or humble? I hope you think it’s better to be humble. In the end, you will be much happier! You will find God helps the humble and gives them good things. God is not happy with pride. But he loves the humble.