嘉莉像許多老師一樣，需要花很多的時間在教職工作上。她時常為了批改作業，或與學生和家長溝通而忙到深夜。為了保持教學熱忱，她和一群同事時常交流，並彼此給予實質的幫助。透過相互合作，使她這份充滿挑戰的工作變得較為容易。最近一份針對教育工作者的研究發現，當同事們以謙卑的態度共事就能擴大合作的效益。當同事願意承認自己的弱點，其他人就可以分享知識、提供建議，從而有效地讓群體中的每一個人都得到幫助。

聖經教導謙卑的重要性，遠不只是為了加強團隊合作。「敬畏耶和華心存謙卑」，即我們藉著與上帝的榮美、大能和威嚴相比較，正確地認識了自己的身分，那麼我們就可以得到「富有、尊榮、生命」為賞賜（箴言22章4節）。謙卑讓我們能以富有成效的方式在群體中生活，不僅是在世界上，在上帝的國度中更是如此，因我們追求的是要使其他上帝所造的人得到益處。

但我們不應該將敬畏上帝當成獲得「富有、尊榮、生命」的途徑，因為這根本不是真正的謙卑。我們應當效法耶穌那樣，甘願放下一切，「取了奴僕的形象」（腓立比書2章7節），好讓我們能與其他肢體謙卑地合作，一起做上帝的工作，將榮耀歸給祂，並將福音傳遞給周圍的人。

Like many teachers, Carrie devotes countless hours to her career, often grading papers and communicating with students and parents late into the evening. To sustain the effort, she relies on her community of colleagues for camaraderie and practical help; her challenging job is made easier through collaboration. A recent study of educators found that the benefit of collaboration is magnified when those we work with demonstrate humility. When colleagues are willing to admit their weaknesses, others feel safe to share their knowledge with one another, effectively helping everyone in the group.

The Bible teaches the importance of humility—for much more than enhanced collaboration. “Fear[ing] the Lord”—having a right understanding of who we are in comparison with the beauty, power, and majesty of God—results in “riches and honor and life” (Proverbs 22:4). Humility leads us to living in community in a way that’s fruitful in God’s economy, not just the world’s, because we seek to benefit our fellow image bearers.

We don’t fear God as a way to gain “riches and honor and life” for ourselves—that wouldn’t be true humility at all. Instead, we imitate Jesus, who “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:7) so we can become part of a body that humbly cooperates together to do His work, give Him honor, and take a message of life to the world around us.