The Prideful Mouse

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God. – 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

A fable goes like this, a wise man was walking through the jungle when he saw a little mouse being attacked by a crow. Being filled with compassion, he chased off the crow and took the wounded mouse home. He fed his tiny charge milk and rice until it got better. One day, however, a cat saw the mouse and decided to eat it. Fortunately, the wise man was close by and saw the mouse running for its life once again. Out of pity for it he spoke an incantation and transformed the puny mouse into a muscular tomcat. The cat could now handily defend himself.

A few days later, a dog decided to bite the cat that had once been a mouse. Again the wise man was near, spoke a few magical words and the cat became a powerful pit bull that quickly dispatched his tormentor. Soon, as the pit was trotting through the jungle after the wise man, a panther came along and figured it hadn’t had dog for lunch for a while. The wise man quickly turned the dog into a huge, powerful lion and the panther decided it wasn’t that hungry after all.

Now the mouse was a lion – king of the jungle. But he became filled with pride and arrogance. He abused his power by chasing animals unnecessarily and roaring for the sheer delight of hearing his own voice. The wise man chided him. “Be filled with pity on those who are weaker than you. Remember what you used to be. Without my help you would still be a mouse!” The lion was angry at the suggestion that he was less than a kingly lion. His pride injured, he decided to kill his benefactor. The wise man, however, knew the lion’s mind and changed him back into the mouse he truly was. The little mouse scuttled away into the jungle to live out his lackluster, fearful and decidedly short life.

We must remember that without Christ, we would be nothing. We were sinners when He came into our lives. We are still sinners at heart, but we now have a new status by the grace of God. Anything we accomplish is accomplished by His strength. Any gift or talent we possess came from the Giver of good gifts. Let us humbly serve Him in whatever way He deems best. Let us revel in our “kingliness” but give the glory to the Maker.