Pride: we seem to have real difficulty deciding whether this is a good thing or not. We don’t want to brag, and we despise gloating. We expect the recipient of some award to give a thank you speech; it just wouldn’t be nice to take all the glory. On the other hand, we insist in taking pride about our work, walking with our heads held high, and we simply won’t abide others making us feel inferior. In James 1:9-11, James commands two different groups of people to boast, and if we consider what he’s saying, maybe we’ll not be so confused about pride. We’ll see that a key to being humble is knowing what to boast about: “Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation...” (1:9-10a).
To boast is to make much of something. It is to call loudly and say, “This thing is great and worthy of notice and praise!” What is great about you? What is noteworthy? James says that if you are poor, what is great is that in Christ you are rich. The Lord lifts up the lowly; the one of humble means has been exalted by God. “Boast in what the Lord has done for you!” James says.
The rich, however, is to boast that he has been humiliated. What? Make a big thing out of being made small? Absolutely! Why? The rich in this world—at least the godly ones!—should call loudly and say, “My riches will perish! Thank God that I learned this before it was too late! How wonderful that I have been humbled to learn what real greatness is!” “Like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits” (1:10b-11). Those who are rich in this world have a reason for boasting if they’ve understood that a pursuit of earthly greatness will disappoint, for then they can pursue something worth boasting in. We’ve nothing worth boasting in if we aren’t able to boast in what the Lord has done. The lesson of humility—learning that our personal pride is empty and our self-praise is delusional—is a gracious gift.
Jeremiah puts it this way: “Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord” (Jer 9:23-24).
Lord, let us find greatness in kneeling before You. Let us learn humility as our default position in life.
—Justin Dobbs