https://odb.org/2026/02/23/humble-leadership
John 1:19–28 (NIV): 19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”
22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ”
24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
My friend Butch Briggs has been the beloved coach for the swim teams at a local high school for fifty-one years. Out of curiosity, I asked him how many state championships he’d won during his five decades. In his trademark, gentle tone he quipped, “I’ve not won a single championship because I’ve never swum in a single race.” Trying again, I asked him, “How many championships have your swimmers won?” He happily responded, “Thirty-nine.” Butch taught me a valuable lesson. A coach plays an important role, but he didn’t want to take credit for what his swimmers accomplished. (Lisa M. Samra, Our Daily Bread 23rd February 2026)
I had to travel from Seremban, where our main and permanent home is, back to Kelana Jaya, where our city condo is, early yesterday morning after the Chinese New Year week and weekend. I thus didn’t have time to prepare and post yesterday’s morning devotional writing.
Xin Nian Kuai Le! Happy Chinese New Year, everyone who’s celebrating! Hope you had a blast catching up with close friends and relatives as some of us would have taken a few more days off to just chill back at our hometowns. This year, we spent some time with relatives and close church friends and had a meaningful time catching up.
Yesterday’s ODB article (23rd Feb) caught my eye and I like to expand on the topic today (24th Feb). I think humility is something every Christian struggle with. For non-believers, I guess it doesn’t matter so much to them since humility is not a trait everyone in the world aspires to. But for us believers, it is essential that we get this right as the LORD our God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). It is an important principle to get right because if God is for us, who can be against us? Why would we want a life with God being against us? Also, it is often the grace of God that carries us through many difficult and tough situations in our life.
One aspect of humility that we need to guard against is the natural tendency to want to take credit for things we have done. Even well-known and established pastor preachers love to boast about “their” achievements in Christ. Sometimes they even inadvertently take credit for some things they didn’t actually do! Some use the Lord like a stepping stone to blow their own trumpets by praising God while actually boasting. That’s really false humility. Most often when we boast, we forget that it is the Lord that made us who we are in this world, whether in ministry or in our secular careers.
I think a good way to avoid this trap of pride is to keep quiet and let our work speak for itself. What we have done is for all to see. Much may be unseen but God knows and He sees. Let others praise us if they see the goodness of God in our lives. Let God Himself promote and publicise our good deeds. Ultimately, all that we do is for His glory and the less we boast, the more it is genuinely for His glory. These things, after all, are His achievements through us, not our achievements in Him!
Always remember, we want God on our side and we want our lives to be overflowing with His grace. We will surely run into all sorts of trouble and challenges in life. Such things are unavoidable even though we are Christians. But it is the grace of God working in our circumstances that will carry us through. We certainly do not want the LORD to oppose us – He opposes the proud!
Have a good week ahead! After this week, by this weekend, we’ll be travelling for about two weeks to see my elder son in the UK. I will try to continue my postings but it will be in the early mornings GMT time. Thus, if you are in Malaysia, you will receive them in early afternoon since MST is GMT+8.
Once again, Blessed Chinese New Year and may the Year of the Horse bring us heavenly blessings and most importantly, may this year be overflowing with God’s grace! Amen!
Ronnie's Thoughts 