Opening prayer: Lord Jesus, give us wisdom and strengthen our faith and show us the way we should go through your Word. Amen.
Dressed in humility
34 He…shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
hum·ble [ húmb’l ]
- modest: modest and unassuming in attitude and behavior
- respectful: feeling or showing respect and deference toward other people
- lowly: relatively low in rank and without pretensions
Jesus was an example for us to follow. He fits the definition in all of his actions. He also had authority and he spoke and taught with authority.
Do we not admire a person, a leader, who has knowledge and wisdom, yet give us credit and with respect? A leader who does not talk down to us, but who listens and directs yet does not command and disregard our feeling. Jesus was such a leader.
Therefore a leader is also humble.
Our devotion writer writes about how she taught homeless, ex-convicts and former addicts through bible study to humble themselves before God. She speaks of humbleness to be subservient “in the sight of the Lord…Humility brought these recovering addicts to recognizing their roles as servants of God and of one another.”
I think we all understand the humbleness before God, but the harder task is being is service to one another. I don’t think you can be truly humble before God without recognizing our responsibility to each other.
Prayer: “Help me know that life is about you, Jesus, not me. Amen.”
Proverbs 3:27-35 (New International Version, ©2010)
27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to act.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
“Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
when you already have it with you.
29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
who lives trustfully near you.
30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason—
when they have done you no harm.
31 Do not envy the violent
or choose any of their ways.
32 For the LORD detests the perverse
but takes the upright into his confidence.
33 The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.
34 He mocks proud mockers
but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
35 The wise inherit honor,
but fools get only shame.
Gary's Devotion Comments 
As recovering alcoholics and drug addicts learn, there is a fine line between humility and humiliation. As much as his persecutors wanted it, Christ never crossed that line. His perceived humiliation, in death, was instead a very real victory for all mankind. From our Sunday scripture, we are reminded that turning the other cheek is an exercise in humility, not humiliation. Micah 6:8 — “… this is what Yahweh asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.”