Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.
Romans 12:16
Look down at others. Snooty. Snobbish. Sometimes you give them the benefit of your pity and your patronage. The poor people, you think, let them have some crumbs of comfort from my table. The poor, pathetic creatures. Let’s feel sorry for them from the comfort of the central heated home snug in our onesie and cuddled up in the blankets on our double bed with the pillows just right as well as the decent WiFi that we know we need to cope in this world of privilege.
No, you’re not the one that could be classed as haughty because you can barely make ends meet. You’re not the one looking down on others because you’ve got debt up to your eyeballs. No, you’re not the arrogant one at all … But to actually recognise and associate with the lowly? What? Those people? But they’re strangers aren’t they? I don’t know what contagious diseases they have. Or what kind of nasty habits they might have that might be off-putting. Sure give to charity to support them, but after all, if they don’t want to get out of their condition, why would you want to associate with them. Maybe it’s their fault. Maybe it’s something that the local government should do somehting about – that’s why we pay those taxes isn’t it?
I know this issue doesn’t bother you because you’re not haughty or arrogant or proud. How can you be? You don’t have that much to be proud about, unlike those real rich folks with the cars and the houses and that stuff.
It doesn’t take much, however for the real condition of our heart to emerge when we’re invited to truly associate with the lowly. Not just give them an occasional patronage and hope that the charity event we did for them at work would cover that requirement.
This is where our association with Jesus Christ makes that possible. For in the eyes of Christ before we knew Him we were in a worse position than we look at those in their lowly condition. Jesus had no problem disrobing Himself of His royal position and being among the wide varioety that society offered including the poor, destitute and marginalised. He didn’t do it out of pity, He did it out of compassion and He did it because of the approach of the Father consistently to those who impoverished. His desire all the time is to look out for them, care for them, never see them neglected. Indeed this is why the good news was marked as being welcome by the poor. It was welcome to them, because it welcomed them. Not from an abstract concept, but actually interacting and engaging with them for them to see their worth in the sight of their Creator.
Instruction to God’s people from the setting up of the nation of Israel was ensuring the marginalised had access to care and attention. It’s no wonder then, that we who recognised our poverty materially and in spirit, heard this good news that Jesus had come for us and were keen to enter His Kingdom. Now that we have been embraced there, it makes all the sense in the world to remember what God has done to us and with His love in our hearts endeavour to associate with the lowly. Not do so on the premise that we’ll give them time if they receive the message. No, spend time with them, be with them to be a presence of light in their lives and reflect the love of Jesus with them.
This is certainly something I can confess is borne out in my life. Although my upbringing would not be classed as upper class or highly privileged, my working class parents did a lot to ensure that I was brought up in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. There was something about that, though, that did give me a privilege complex. Like – despite the economic status – my position as belonging to believers and then becoming one myself meant that … really … I was in a class above. A class above the rest.
You know (or you can imagine), that as someone with the truth, those who didn’t believe what I did, well they had to be pitied. And certainly to steer away from them so they wouldn’t corrupt me with their delusion. Oh and you might think I’m exaggerating, or surely I couldn’t be that way … but that was my attitude. I was safe with the righteous types, but it wasn’t for me to be seen with the great unwashed unless it was to give them a pamphlet assuring them that they needed Jesus or they were going to hell. The love of God was good for me, as long as I didn’t have to share it with … you know … those lot … those types. Those down there. Drinking all the time, wasting their lives on stupidity. As for the homeless, well that was sad and all, but it would be so inconvenient. It was good and comfortable thinking about the poor from the safe environment that church provided. It was odd seeing them actually come into the sanctuary from time to time. I could tell they were there by the smell and their look. They clearly didn’t fit and so it was good when they were given a cup of tea and then were ushered out. Even when reading scriptures about God’s concern for the lowly, I just nodded my head in assent to the idea of looking out for them. But to actually do it? What? Me? Nah. That’s not my calling.
The wake-up call/rebuke/slap up the head came when God took me on a journey of truly discovering that if I thought the great unwashed were to be avoided because of their lowly condition, then I needed a good look in the mirror. I needed to consider carefully what God had done in my life, because if I thought they were a mess, then God was going to show me what a real mess looked like – a real mess in all it’s decrepit, disgusting, nasty, smelly, rotten ugliness. And it’s one thing for me to have suffered with low self-esteem issues anyway whilst I had my snooty attitude, but that didn’t even begun to expose what I was deep inside.
The grace of God exposed the stench of my life for me to see how kind and compassionate Jesus was to still seek me out in my mess and look to be with me. Be with me because that was not what I created to be. Be with me because there was a light to shine in on me and show me a different way. If He could do that with someone like me and give me His precious Spirit so that I did not have to live in that state anymore, then who was I to turn my nose up at others? How dare I have the audacity to assume I was in a better position and would never associate with them? How dare I refuse what God had actively embraced, cherished and desired for all those who refer to Him to likewise love? What kind of fool would do that? My kind of fool did that, that’s who.
Once more the grace of God was in effect to give me the opportunity to live the life of repentance in positioning me to work with others who would be described as being in a lowly position. Two things helped me a lot in that time. The first was not seeing it as a job in which I earned money, but a mission in which God trusted me to represent Him. The second was to look out for life in those I engaged with. Look for it by giving them the space to express themselves, to understand them, relate to them and love them as Jesus loved me. That was not something I did on my own, but God graciously placed me among a small community of saints who likewise had a passion for sharing the love of God with the lowly – associating with them, engaging with them, loving them, because they are in need of this love, just as much as we are and we are in the best place to share it with them. Do they all embrace the good news? Nope. Do they all give their lives to follow Jesus? Nah. Does that stop the extension of the love? In no way whatsoever. It’s not a conditional thing that we offer only to people who will receive us. It’s a part of who we are anyway. So if you don’t want the one who gives the love, but you’re happy to take the love on offer, that’s fine. We’ve played our part and will be a presence to play that part whenever required.
The effect of this experience gives a great deal of insight into understanding why Paul would encourage us not to be proud, arrogant – haughty. No room for that among those who have been redeemed by the meek and humble Lord we claim to follow. No room for that, whatsoever. Whereas there is room for love. There is room for associating, befreinding, loving and shining the light in gracious and understanding ways. Plenty of room for that.
This is a mark of a true Christian in true Christian community.
(This blog series was inspired by the Christian meditation on The Marks of a True Christian from the Encounter podcast.)
(Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. l. J. Dryden
Life With CD 