( Jeremiah 9:23—24)
By Pastor Sunny Philip
There is an old saying (I don’t know why most sayings are old!) which goes something like this, “If you think you are humble, you are not.” What it really means is that most humble people are completely unaware that they are humble. There is some truth in this. But as is often the case, some truth is not the truth. We subscribe to some truth because we do not either understand the whole truth or are not prepared to accept the whole truth.
If we accept this wise, old saying, “If you think you are humble, you are not,” we will have to write off Moses and Jesus and, may be, even Apostle Paul as arrogant, conceited leaders.
But, we know, they were not arrogant and conceited. Why? Because they said they were not.
Moses said, “The man Moses was exceedingly humble, more than any other man on the face of the earth.” (Numbers 12:3)
Jesus said, “Learn of me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29)
Aha... there you are! That shows they were proud and arrogant because they said they were humble. Paul said, “Imitate me, as I imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). OK, that was in the context of eating meat or something. Still, a pretty tall claim for himself!
Have another read of the text for today.
"Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, neither let the strong man glorify himself in his strength, let not the rich glorify himself in his riches: but let him that boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am God who exercises love, justice, and righteousness" (Jeremiah 9: 23-24)
Have you noticed that this verse doesn’t say anything about humility? It describes two kinds of boasting. For some reason we equate the second kind of boasting to humility. Why do we do that? If we can get a handle on that, we may become a little bit more sympathetic towards Moses and Jesus and Paul.
Now, that would be a humbling experience!
