The answers are in the Word of God.

Pride or humility? God calls us to live by The Way of the Word

Pride and Humility: Are They Compatible?

"Does anyone want to volunteer to assist with an emergency eye case? They just called over from surgery asking for a volunteer," one of the other nursing students announced. I looked up as she entered the dorm room where a few of us were chatting before turning in for the night.

I had assisted with almost every type of surgical procedure except eye surgery. But no one else wanted to volunteer, so I got dressed and made my way across the street, through the emergency entrance and up to the second floor surgical wing.

After I'd scrubbed and gowned, I confessed to the doctor that I hadn't learned the names of the special instruments used in eye surgery. The doctor assured me that he was grateful just to have me available to help as he directed, since all the regular scrub nurses wer busy with other emergencies.

He never displayed any frustration toward my inadequacies as we worked, but calmly described each instrument as he needed it. He rewarded my willingness to help by giving me a personal lesson on the anatomy of the eye. He explained each step as we proceeded through the delicate maneuvers.

This doctor had tremendous skill, and he took pride in his work. When I am a patient, I want a doctor like that. If he doesn't take pride in his work, he won't do his best.

But the thing I admired most about this doctor was his humility. Many of us would have taken it as a personal slight if all the other emergency surgeries had gotten the best scrub nurses. We would have insisted on "someone who knows what they are doing." But this doctor treated me as if the limited skill I possessed was just as important to his patient's well-being as the splendid skill he displayed.

As Christians we should develop the skills God has given us. We are His representatives, and we should always give our best performance so that our work will be a tribute to Him. But we shoud realize that every other Christian's work is just as important in God's plan as our own.

Let us work together to exalt Him according to The Way of the Word:

"If anyone has anything to say, let it be as the words of God; if anyone has the desire to be the servant of others, let him do it in the strength which is given by God; so that in all things God may have the glory through Jesus Christ, whose are the glory and the power for ever." (1 Peter 4:11 Bible in Basic English).