Be Little

“A great man is always willing to be little.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are taught to reach for the stars. We are trained to never give up. We are encouraged to drive for first place and top positions. We’re given trophies and awards and raises and accolades as encouragements. All of these things can be valuable in their own ways, but how often are we inspired to reflect on the affect all of this has on our hearts?

Has the applause or desire for applause become increasingly valuable in your heart? It is always encouraging to get an atta-boy or atta-girl, but the slope from that first drip of accolades or self assurance in our hearts is slippery to say the least. How quickly we can become enamored and driven for success by pride - pride in position, pride in accomplishment, or pride in success.

In his book, LEAD, Paul David Tripp says this:

“Pride causes boasting to replace confession, and shows of strength replace requests for help… “

“Humility is a fruit of the rule of the gospel in your life. The gospel will humble you because it requires you to confess that the greatest dangers in your life live inside you and not outside you. The gospel calls you to run to God for rescue because your greatest problem is you. The gospel tells you that no matter how successful you have been, you need His grace right now as much as you did the first moment you believed. The gospel doesn’t work to make you independent and self-reliant, but willingly dependent on God and the community of grace He has placed around you. “

So I challenge you. Be little. Give up striving to do things for what it gets you, even if that is the internal feeling of satisfaction. Do something without anyone’s knowledge. Do something for His glory alone. Replace self-glory for glorifying Him only. I promise you, you won’t regret it, and you will be filled to the fullest.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
not looking to your own interests
but each of you to the interests of the others.”
~Philippians 2:3-4