Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. – Rom. 12:16
Isn’t it something how God uses the most unexpected circumstances to teach us the most valuable lessons?
I’ll never forget those early days of the pandemic. Life came to a standstill. So much uncertainty and fear. And suddenly, the world shifted its attention… not to the celebrities or CEOs, but to the people we had walked past for years without so much as a passing glance: grocery clerks, delivery drivers, hospital janitors, sanitation workers, etc. We began hearing a phrase that hadn’t meant much to us before, some of us were hearing it for the first time – “Essential Workers.”
It was humbling.
There I was, standing in a grocery aisle, looking at someone stocking the shelves, and realizing for the first time in a long time – this person matters. Their job, their time, their willingness to show up when most of us stayed home – it mattered. And for a moment, I think most of us saw it clearly.
And then… we didn’t.
The pandemic ended. Life picked back up. And so did our pride. Slowly, that sense of gratitude started to fade. The grocery clerk was no longer a hero, just someone in the way when the shelves were empty or the line was long. It’s like the world quietly slipped back into its old rhythm – where value is measured by status, not sacrifice.
But God’s Word never slips back, does it? Romans 12:16 confronts us plainly: Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. In other words, don’t let your pride blind you to the worth of others. Don’t overlook the people the world ignores. Because in the eyes of God, there are no small people – only people deeply loved and eternally valuable.
Friend, every time we lift our chin and walk past someone because they don’t fit our idea of importance, we forget the very grace that saved us. Jesus didn’t come to rub elbows with the elite! He came to wash the feet of fishermen and touch the lives of beggars, lepers, and prostitutes. He came low so that we might learn to live humbly.
For much of my life, I looked down on the drug addicts, the junkies, the drunken alcoholics… thinking all the while, “Look at how pathetic you are. You should be ashamed of yourselves.” But then years later, guess who suddenly can’t put the bottle down? Yours truly. I became a serious alcoholic. It got so bad that I had no other choice but to get professional help. And I’ll never forget that first day in rehab, sharing the same air as all of those people that I used to call pathetic losers. Suddenly I was no different than them! I never forgot that, and I don’t think God will ever let me. I thank Him that I see people differently today. But it took a lot of suffering for me to learn that humility and empathy go hand in hand. But for the grace of God, go I.
The bottom line is this: the way I treat those who our culture calls “unimportant” is a mirror to my soul. It reveals whether I truly understand the gospel I claim to believe.
Think about who the “little” people are in your everyday travels. Chances are somebody comes to mind. You don’t have to take them out to lunch. Just acknowledge their existence. Let them know you see them. It might not mean that much to you, but it might mean the world to them. As Christians, everyone we bump into is a neighbor, and that means they’re essential in God’s eyes.
To walk humbly with God means valuing people not as the world values them, but according to their worth to Him.
Former Blackout Artist 