There is a dangerous mistake we make in life: we judge people by the position they are in instead of the person they are becoming.

Never mistake someone’s helplessness for a lack of character.

A person may be struggling today, borrowing today, crying today, living quietly today, or walking through a season where they have nothing to prove and nothing to display. Their present condition is not necessarily a revelation of their true worth.

And here is the harder truth:

Some people only look humble because life has temporarily taken away their power.

Watch how someone treats people who cannot benefit them. Watch how they speak to the poor, the weak, the forgotten, the struggling, and those beneath their social status. That is where character is exposed.

Because real humility is not what you demonstrate when you have nothing.

Real humility is what remains when you have everything.

Never despise the person who is struggling today. Their chapter has not ended.

And never be impressed by the person who becomes arrogant because they finally have power. Position can reveal what prosperity was hiding.

Today’s helpless person may become tomorrow’s helper.

Today’s overlooked person may become tomorrow’s voice.

Today’s broken person may become tomorrow’s testimony.

So be careful how you treat people on their way up—or on their way through the valley.

Life has a way of changing positions.

The hand you refuse to hold today may one day be the hand God uses to lift you.

Don’t measure a person’s character by what they possess. Measure it by how they treat people when possession, position, and power are removed.

Never humiliate someone because they are struggling. You don’t know what God is building in them while they are surviving what you cannot see.