Title: Be willing to associate with them|Fire In My Bones

Date: November 08, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 24

“…Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” (Rom 12:16NIV)

Twice we are told in our opening bible text not to be arrogant but to be willing to associate with people of low position. Why? First, it is because God Himself was willing to associate with us when we had nothing to offer Him. And why? It was so that He would be able to save us and elevate us to the position of sons in our relationship with Him. So, the bible says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8NIV)

In like manner, by associating with people of low position in our neighbourhoods, workplaces and even the church of God, we can be used by God to elevate them or protect them from some oppressors. Truly, we may not see ourselves as being in any position to elevate or protect anybody. But the truth is that, no matter how low we may think of our current place in life, we will still find people who will wish they were in that position. And that will be because they see us as living on a higher plane of life. 

Now it is such people that the word of God is telling us to be willing to associate with. That way, we may just be able to help them rise in life or save them from some situations that may lead to their disgrace or destruction. Look at Jonathan, the son of King Saul, for instance. Even though he was the crown prince of Israel and a mighty warrior, he was willing to associate with David when he was but a boy. Yes, David did something outstanding at the time for him to be noticed by Jonathan. Nevertheless, if he had been an arrogant prince, he would still not have associated with him, seeing that he was younger than him and also did not come from a wealthy family. (Cf. 1Samuel 18:1-4)

But Jonathan was not a proud prince or warrior. So, he came down to David’s level in order to make friends with him. And because he did this, God was able to use him to save the young man from the jealousy of his father, King Saul, and send him away from the land in peace, so that the purpose of God may be fulfilled in his life. (Cf. 1Samuel 19-20)   

Consider Joseph too. When he was in the prison, he had the rare privilege of meeting two important officials of the king of Egypt. These men offended their master, the king of Egypt, and were imprisoned for doing so. And as people had been used to power and money, they may have chosen not to associate with anyone in the prison, while waiting for the king’s judgment. But they humbled themselves and associated with Joseph, a slave and prisoner. So, God was later able to use one of them to save him from this prison that he had been unjustly sent to and to also open the door for the great dreams He had given to him to come to pass. (Cf. Gen 40-41)

In the same vein, by humbling ourselves to associate with those who are occupying lower social positions than us, we may just be making ourselves available for God to use in fulfilling His dreams of greatness for them. And where that is the case, they also may eventually be used by God in fulfilling certain dreams of His for our lives or be used by Him in rescuing us in some period of trials. But if arrogance had prevented us from associating with them, who are we going to blame, if they too are unwilling to associate with us if life becomes better for them?

So, the second reason we should be willing to associate with people of low positions is that they also may be occupying greater positions than ours tomorrow. See, the fact that someone is occupying a position lower than yours today does not mean that the person is a moron or that you have better abilities or prospects in life than them. David, at the time Jonathan met him, was a lowly Bethlehem boy. But he was also the one chosen and anointed by God as the future king of the land. So, by treating him well, Jonathan was simply helping his own future in the land.

Similarly, even though Joseph, at the time that the chief cupbearer of the king of Egypt met him, was just a common slave and prisoner, he had been chosen by God to be a father to Pharaoh and the saviour of the world of the time from a coming terrible period of famine. So, by associating with him, the man was just unconsciously building a relationship with a future world leader. And think of how he must have felt on the day Joseph was made the prime minister of Egypt by their king.

Well, the point of it all is that don’t allow pride or arrogance to keep you from building great relationships with the people of low position around you. That is because apart from the fact that God can use you to lift them up in great ways, He may also have appointed them to be the people that will lift you too up in a time of need. And if you allow arrogance to despise them now, how do you think they too will treat you, if the tables were to be turned? Only God can tell.

A word of caution, however: don’t associate with people of low position because you hope that God will want to use them to help you someday. That may not be in God’s plans at all. Even if it is, such people may forget your kindness or not permit Him to use them for you. And where that is the case, bitterness may overtake and ruin you, if your reason for helping them now is that they too may help you in the future. So, mind yourself.