If You're Only Strong Among the Weak

You know the type. Bold with new believers. Silent around mature saints. Put them with struggling folks or people who look up to them, and they've got answers for days. Quick with advice. Ready to lead. But put them in a room with seasoned believers, discerning elders, somebody who might question their theology or their living? Now they're quiet. Uncomfortable. Looking for the door.

Don't call that humility. That's pride with good manners.

James 4:6 tells us straight: "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble."

You see what pride costs you? God's resistance. You're not just missing His grace—you're facing His opposition. But humility? That gets you grace. The proud man needs people he can impress. The humble man just needs God's approval.

Here's your test: Can you sit under teaching that challenges you? Can you take correction from somebody at your level? Can you be around Christians further along than you without feeling small? Or do you only feel "anointed" when you're the smartest one in the room?

Real humility looks the same everywhere. Teachable with everybody. Ready to learn from anybody God puts in your path. Willing to be the least in any room because Christ is your confidence.

This kind of selective boldness? It's old as dirt. The Pharisees loved the best seats. Loved being called "Rabbi." Loved the attention. But when Jesus—God manifest in the flesh—spoke truth to them? They plotted to kill Him rather than bend the knee. That's what pride does when you don't check it. Pride can't stand equals. And pride sure can't stand superiors.

Proverbs 27:17 says, "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend."

But iron doesn't sharpen iron sitting in separate rooms. It takes friction. It takes contact. It takes two hard things colliding, and both of them walk away better for it.

If you can only minister where nobody challenges you? You're not being sharpened. You're actually getting dull. And you're making the people under you dull too, because you're not growing and they can't grow past you.

Listen—a real shepherd doesn't run from other shepherds. He seeks them out. Sits under preaching that convicts him. He asks hard questions and welcomes harder answers. He knows if he's going to lead God's people right, he's got to be led right himself.

So what are you going to do about it?

The cure isn't to stop teaching or leading. It's to stop running from your peers and from people better than you. Go after relationships with Christians who'll speak truth to you. Sit under preaching that makes you squirm. Get in conversations where you're not the expert.

Look, do it for God's glory, not your reputation. Even when nobody's watching. Because you want to be useful to God, not impressive to people. You'd rather be a humble doorkeeper in God's house than a proud teacher among baby Christians.

The goal isn't getting to the top of the ladder. The goal is climbing it with your brothers and sisters in Christ, helping each other up, all of us being conformed to the image of His son—the only One who belongs at the top anyway.

Your spiritual life only grows as tall as your willingness to be challenged.

If you're only strong among the weak, you're not as strong as you think. If you're bold only where nobody will challenge you? That's not bravery—that's comfortability.

And comfortable Christians don't grow.