A Humble Snack

<p>The bag of snack chips was small, but it taught an American missionary a big lesson. Working one evening &nbsp;in the Dominican Republic, she arrived &nbsp;at a church meeting and opened her chips when a woman she hardly knew reached and grabbed a few from the bag. Others helped themselves, too.</p> <p><em>How rude,</em> the missionary thought. Then she realized a humbling lesson. She didn&rsquo;t yet understand the culture where she&rsquo;d agreed to serve. Rather than emphasizing individualism, as in the United States, she learned that life in the Dominican Republic is lived in community. Sharing one&rsquo;s food and goods is how people relate to each other. Her way wasn&rsquo;t better, just different. She confessed, &ldquo;It was very humbling to discover these things about me.&rdquo; As she began to recognize her own biases, she also learned that humbly sharing with others helped her serve them better.</p> <p>Peter taught this lesson to church leaders: treat others with humility. He counseled the elders to resist &ldquo;lording it over those entrusted to you&rdquo; (1 Peter 5:3). And those younger? &ldquo;Submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility&rdquo; (v. 5). As he declared:&nbsp; &ldquo;God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.&rdquo; Therefore, &ldquo;humble yourselves under God&rsquo;s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time&rdquo; (v. 6). May He help us humbly live before Him and others today.</p>