Would You Rather . . . Be Humble? – September 1, 2025

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Do not honor yourself in a king’s presence. Do not stand in a place reserved for great people, because it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than for you to be humiliated before a ruler.

Proverbs 25:6-7a (EHV)

Would You Rather . . . Be Humble?

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Have you ever played the game, “Would You Rather?” It gives you two choices, and you have to pick which one you would rather do.

• Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible?


• Would you rather live on a beach or near the mountains?


• Would you rather have a bottomless bowl of ice cream or a bottomless plate of fries?


• Would you rather (go ahead, take a moment and make up one of your own)?

Sometimes the choice is really hard because you want both ice cream and fries!

But sometimes the choice is really easy. Here’s one of those easy ones: Would you rather be moved up to a place of honor or get embarrassed and sent down to a lower place? Or think of it this way: Would you rather be last in line for recess and your teacher moves you to the front or be first in line and get sent all the way to the back? Well, that’s easy . . . move me up to the front, right?!

The Book of Proverbs is full of God’s inspired advice. And the advice is simply this, “Humble yourself. Put others first. Let God lift you up.” It’s easy to understand—but actually hard to do.

Let’s say you just got your test back at school. You notice your friend didn’t do as well. A little part of you might want to “accidentally” show off your test score, right? Or let’s say there’s one piece of pizza left. You and your brother each had two already. You want to grab it before he finishes his!

It’s hard to be humble. It’s hard to put others first.

We all have moments like that. And that’s why it’s so great to think about Jesus. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9 EHV). Jesus didn’t choose the easy way. He humbled himself, so that you would be exalted!

Prayer:

Dear Lord, we thank you for humbling yourself and becoming obedient to even death for us. By your resurrection, the Father exalted you and gave you the name that is above every name. Help us confess your saving name to the world around us in our words and also in our humble actions. Give us opportunities this week to live out our faith by putting others first. Amen.

The questions below are to help families discuss this devotion. The questions are divided by age group as suggestions, but anyone could reflect on any of the questions as they desire.

Questions for Younger Children

• Would you rather be last in line and moved to first, or first in line and sent to the back? Why?


• Remembering that Jesus loves you, what is one thing you could do for someone this week?

Questions for Elementary Age Children

• Why is God’s advice in Proverbs easy to understand but hard to follow?


• When you haven’t been humble or didn’t put others first, what’s the best thing to do next?

Questions for Middle School and Above

• What does it mean that “Jesus humbled himself so that you would be exalted”?


• Can you think of a way that you can put God’s advice into practice this week?

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