There is a risk that the more we learn (and the more we think we know) we can begin to think of
ourselves as superior to others. Although “knowledge is power”, we who have
attained a great deal of it, must remain humble. With increased knowledge,
ideally, we begin to understand how much we really don’t know. For the
Christian, this is particularly important because, as Paul goes on to explain,
we are all part of one body and each of us has value and a purpose. Perhaps our
purpose is different from our brother, but it is no less and no more important
that his. There is no room in the Christian life to be anything other than
humble. Brennan Manning gives this great illustration:
Pundits have long maintained that the only person more
arrogant than a newly certified physician is a newly ordained priest. At the
age of twenty-nine, with the holy oils of ordination still wet on my hands, I
sallied forth to teach theology at the university level. Exuding a brisk air of
professional enthusiasm and a suffocating spirit of hubris, I expostulated so
brilliantly on the mystery of God that after one semester, there was no mystery
left. When I heard an elderly and saintly friar in the monastery comment, “The
older I get, the less I understand about God,” I assumed that it was his
sincere attempt at modesty. Secretly, however, I pitied his shallowness.
Looking back now, I shudder at my “profundity.”
It is God who works in us, who moves through us, who gives
us grace to do all that we do. It is the Lord who liberally imparts wisdom when
we ask. It is the Lord who has “assigned” our value and crafted our calling in
this world. It is He who imparts the gifts we have. So it is with sober
thinking that we must recognize His work in our lives and, by faith and with
humility, fulfill His call and purpose.
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