MARCH 27, Proverbs 16:18

Are you proud? Do you like to boast? Do you like promoting yourself as someone clever because you want to be popular with people? Do you like to show off so that your friends will like you? Meekness is the opposite of all these. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explained meekness as one of the Christian traits. Jesus wanted his disciples to be meek. So child, you see, Jesus desires you to exercise meekness in your life, not to be proud or boastful.

Most of you may not have heard of a man called William Carey. He was a great missionary to the land of India and was a very faithful man whom God used to a great extent. One day, a very important person – the governor of India - invited him to a dinner party. In the party, a proud guest asked one of the governor’s servants if Carey had once been a shoemaker. Overhearing what was asked, Carey stepped forward and said, “No, not shoemaker, sir, just a cobbler.’ You see, shoemakers may own companies such as Hush Puppies, Bata, Bumble Bee, and etc., and may be rich people. However, cobblers are people you find on the streets or at corners of shopping centres repairing your shoes and footwear. William Carey, though he was at that time already a famous missionary, chose not to be offended, but in great humility, answered that proud man. He was a great example of a meek man.

Child, are you a proud person? Be wary of your pride, be humble. It is difficult to be humble. Satan is keen to put pride in us for he knows that would slowly destroy our testimony and affect our walk with God. Guard yourself.

Proverbs 16:18,

__________ goeth before __________

and an __________ spirit before a __________.

Thought: How can you guard yourself from being proud?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me never to be proud but to always remember what I have been given by You. Help me to achieve on a daily basis this fruit of the Spirit - meekness, and never be proud. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.