Queen Victoria once held a reception in honour of an African chieftain. He’d never seen a finger bowl before and when was set before him he picked it up and drank its contents. The cream of British society sat aghast and then began to whisper to one another, until Victoria herself took up her finger bowl and did the same. Immediately, five hundred embarrassed dignitaries followed suite. It was a striking example of true nobility when the world’s most revered person was willing to look foolish so as not to cause embarrassment to an unsophisticated guest.
In this she was following the words of scripture that say: Your attitude should be the kind that was shown by Jesus Christ, who, though he was God…laid aside his glory and humbled himself’ – for us. That’s both greatness and godliness.