The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Matthew 18
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
This passage talks about being modest. To be modest is to be like us, the children of God. People grow up and they always try to be showy, always trying to be better than other people. This can lead to people to cheat and lie. The lies can be small and the lies can also be as great as to hurt someone. As children, we should always be who we are and not act like anyone else. We should remain honest and truthful.
Modesty inspires a way of life which makes it possible to resist the temptations of fashion and the worshipping of idols. Modesty helps us live simple lives. Sometimes the things we like to buy cause us to move farther away from God. Many people out there love money so much that they are willing to do anything for it and usually they sin because of it. Modesty helps us live happily with what we have.
Modesty helps us to keep what should be kept in our hearts. There are some things such as secrets that are to be kept and modesty helps us to keep those secrets.
When Moses went up into the mountains to get the 10 commandments, the people were waiting for Moses. Since they did not have modesty, their urge to party and make a golden calf caused them to sin against God.
Trang and Thuy are best friends who shared a lot of secrets with each other. Trang on the other hand does not know of modesty, but she likes to show and tell. She cannot keep a secret. Trang told Ngoc a secret that Trang promised Thuy she would not tell anyone. Trang told Ngoc that Thuy hit her head on a poll while walking down the street because she was not paying attention. Ngoc laughed out real loud and approached Thuy and laughed some more. Thuy asked Ngoc what was so funny and Ngoc replied saying “how did you walk into a poll?!” and laughed some more. Thuy turned to Trang and got mad at her. Trang could not keep a secret, so her friendship with Thuy ended.
Hieu is a very smart and energetic Thieu. Everyone likes to play with him and everyone likes to be his friend. Why? Hieu is modest also. Everyone can tell him secrets and he keeps them very well. Instead of doing everything himself, Hieu always asks everyone for help even though he knows he can do it by himself. Hieu will always help out everyone before asking help himself.
To be modest is to be a person who puts others before them. Jesus said “the last shall be first and the first shall be last”. When ever your friends need help do you wait for them to ask for help? Most of the time you would just ask them to help out because you are their friend and that’s what friends do for each other.
Being modest also help you make friends. Jesus taught us to share with our friends. Instead of doing everything yourself, do it with your friends. It is much more fun to do it as a group than to do it by yourself. That way everyone will feel happy that they participated.
Dear Lord, please give me your gift of modesty. Let me help those who are in need of your help. Help me make those who feel lonely, feel like they belong somewhere. Help me bring laughter to everyone around me. Help me to be trustworthy of my friends’ trust so they too will trust me.
Lạy Chúa, xin Chúa ban cho con sụ khiêm nhưởng. Cho con giúp những người cần sụ giúp đỡ của Chúa. Giúp cho con cho những người cô đơn cảm thấy mình thuợc về chỗ nào đó. Xin Chúa giúp con mang sụ vui vẻ va nụ cuời đen mọi người xung quanh con. Và con xin Chúa cho con tin cậy vào những bạn con để cho họ tin cây vào con.