Skip to main content

Associate With People of Low Position

             Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. (Romans 12:16c) 

Conceited: Excessively proud; vain. 

Who are the lowest of the low to you? I suspect most of us have people we pray God doesn’t draw into our lives. Oh, we’re OK if He sends us to talk to someone from any of these groups, but not that group. It might be a financial issue. No uber-needy rich folks. No uber-needy poor folks. It might be racial, sexual, age-related, or cultural. Maybe it’s people with special needs, or folks who have done something horrible.  Or, we might be just fine, if only we weren’t dealing with p.e.o.p.l.e.

This is one of those issues that I cringe over. I’m sure people will accuse me of being proud and conceited. For me, the absolute worst people, the lowest of the low are the virtual or hypothetical people. I do much better at dealing with people if there are really people there to be dealt with. The issue of how I would treat some person of low position is absolutely traumatic than the issue of how I treat a person of low position. The “would” is the crux of the matter.

Yesterday, I listened to a podcast by John Ortberg in which he related two incidents in which he treated people in a way he shouldn’t have. Those incidents have given him insight into where he needs to work. That was freeing to me because it suggested that I don’t need to fret and worry about trying to prepare so that I don’t do anything wrong. It’s inevitable that I will, but until I do, it’s not a crisis.

I monitored my reactions to people at work today. The people who provoked a negative reaction are the people who don’t speak English well. The problem is one of patience, and that’s one of the things we tend to lack around people who are lower than we are in some way.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more