Humility Means Shining the Spotlight on Others

Hey, want to hear a joke? Why did the humble tomato turn red? Because it saw the salad dressing. That's a good one. Well today on carpooling with Jesus, we are continuing to learn about humility. I'm Pastor Justin, and we're going to dive into the Bible and take a look. James chapter four, verse 10 says this: humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. Before we jump into the meaning of this verse, let me share a little bit about James. James wasn't just a regular guy. He was actually the half-brother of Jesus. Yep. You heard that right. James grew up with Jesus. And although he didn't always understand who Jesus was, later on he became a huge leader in the early church. He was the one who wrote the book of James in the New Testament. Now let's break down what James is telling us. When the Bible says God will exalt you, it means he will lift you up, make you feel special, and show you how important you are in his eyes. Isn't that amazing? God promises to take care of you when you choose humility. Humility is when we think about others first, instead of focusing on ourselves or trying to get all the attention or all the credit. It's not about thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. Now let's think about what this looks like in real life. Imagine you're at a sports game and your team just scored a great point and you're the one who scored it. Instead of jumping up and down and saying, look how awesome I am, you choose to cheer and celebrate with your teammates. You celebrate the team's success, even though you scored the point. That's humility. You're celebrating with everyone and letting everyone shine and giving the team the spotlight, instead of wanting everyone to cheer you on or celebrate you. And guess what? God sees that. And he promises to lift you up. Humility may not always get the most attention from others, but it always catches God's attention. Some people only want attention from other people and they completely forget about getting any attention from God. Don't do this. Humility is like being a big spotlight for other people. You know how a spotlight shines on one person on stage? Right. Well, when you choose humility, you become the person shining a spotlight on someone else. You let them shine. God loves that. When you give up your spotlight to spotlight others, he promises to lift you up. At home, maybe your sibling gets something you wanted. It's tempting to get upset and complain. Instead you choose humility. You say, I'm so glad you got that. I'm so happy for you. And when you do this, you show God that you care about others' happiness, not just your own. Maybe you're in class and you get a great grade on a test. Instead of turning around to your friends and bragging about how good you did, you see that one of your friends didn't get that good of a grade. So you quietly say to them, I'm so proud of you for how hard you worked. You're doing great. When you celebrate your friend, you're showing humility. You're letting them know they matter. The more you think of others, the more we'll feel the joy of God's love and care in our hearts. Humility doesn't always come easy. But it's so powerful. When you humble yourself, you're showing others the love of Jesus and making the world, your school, and your home, a better place. Remember, no matter where you are or how you're listening, God loves you. I'll see you tomorrow on another episode of carpooling with Jesus. Parents, if you love this podcast, send it to your parent friends so they can have faith-filled moments too. Now here's today's question. Talk about it together before you get out of the car. Can you think of a time when you were humble, like cheering on a friend or letting someone else have the spotlight? How did it make you feel? Have a great day at school.