Tag: Humility

On Exploding Pretensions

2 Kings 7:3-7 MSG It happened that four lepers were sitting just outside the city gate. They said to one another, “What are we doing sitting here at death’s door? If we enter the famine-struck city we’ll die; if we stay here we’ll die. So let’s take our chances in the camp of Aram and throw ourselves on their mercy. If they receive us we’ll live, if they kill us we’ll die. We’ve got nothing to lose.”  So after the sun went down they got up and went to the camp of Aram. When they got to the edge of the camp, surprise! Not a man in the camp! The Master had made the army of Aram hear the sound of horses and a mighty army on the march. They told one another, “The king of Israel hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us!” Panicked, they ran for their lives through the darkness, abandoning tents, horses, donkeys—the whole camp just as it was—running for dear life. 

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 PhillipsFor look at your own calling as Christians, my brothers. You don’t see among you many of the wise (according to this world’s judgment) nor many of the ruling class, nor many from the noblest families. But God has chosen what the world calls foolish to shame the wise; he has chosen what the world calls weak to shame the strong. He has chosen things of little strength and small repute, yes and even things which have no real existence to explode the pretensions of the things that are—that no man may boast in the presence of God. 

Observations

This may seem strange at first, but, to me, this is one of the most encouraging stories in the entire Old Testament.  The city has been cut off from resources for months.  The people in the city have resorted to unthinkable ends by the lack of food.  The prophet Elisha has predicted a sudden and dramatic turn around of the situation, but no one believes him. Outside the city gates, with no hope for help or food from inside the city, we have these four lepers.  Now lepers were avoided by others because the disease was communicable (it is a virus), had no cure and resulted over time in disfigurement, even to the extent of losing fingers, toes, noses.  Lepers were considered a waste of space and resources.

These four lepers have an epiphany!  “If we enter the famine-struck city we’ll die; if we stay here we’ll die. So let’s take our chances in the camp of Aram and throw ourselves on their mercy. If they receive us we’ll live, if they kill us we’ll die. We’ve got nothing to lose.”  I can see them hobbling and shuffling toward the enemy camp.  They have nothing to offer and nothing to lose.  But God, in the way He does, uses the least – foolish, weak and men of little strength and small repute, actual outcasts – to save the city.  This is clear evidence of how different God’s standards to judge value and worth vary from our standards for the same.

Impact on Me

There is great value in study of the Word, practicing spiritual disciplines and daily devotions, worshipping together, serving in ministry.  These are all a necessary part of growing in our Christian walk.  However, they do not define our value in God’s eyes.  While they demonstrate our gratitude – our recognition of the grace and mercy poured out on us and for us, our commitment to submit and obey, our desire to return love to Him – they do not make us more worthy in God’s sight.  We are worthy when we choose to be in Christ through the surrender of repentance and accepting the salvation provided for us on the Cross. 

These four lepers remind me “that no man may boast in the presence of God.”  My accomplishments, my talents, my knowledge, my accumulated wisdom, my faithful performance, only has real value when it is offered up in humility and used to walk in obedience to His will and purpose in my life.   The best thing I bring to the table is my ear to hear and my heart to obey. Our God is able to make the fiercest army flee before anyone He chooses, even four starving, crippled, rag draped lepers that society considers worthless.  What can He do with me if I will just get up and go when He calls?

Devotion

Lord God Almighty, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the One Who stooped down from Heaven to redeem my unworthy soul, I worship You.  I want to see with Your eyes and value others with Your heart.  I want to be just who You call me to be, not wishing to be someone else doing something else because they are being seen and recognized and I am not.  I want to remember that what You can accomplish in and through me is only limited by the freedom I will allow to Your Holy Spirit.  Change my heart, break loose the things in me that break Your heart so I may be Your good and faithful servant.  I pray this all in Jesus’ name. 

On Bowing Low

Mark 10:43-45 ESV But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

John 13:1-5; 12-17 PHILLIPS 1-5 Before the festival of the Passover began, Jesus realised that the time had come for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. He had loved those who were His own in this world and He loved them to the end. By supper-time, the devil had already put the thought of betraying Jesus in the mind of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son. Jesus, with the full knowledge that the Father had put everything into His hands and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from the supper-table, took off His outer clothes, picked up a towel and fastened it round His waist. Then He poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel around His waist….

12-17 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His clothes, He sat down and spoke to them, “Do you realise what I have just done to you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘Lord’ and you are quite right, for I am your teacher and your Lord. But if I, your teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you must be ready to wash one another’s feet. I have given you this as an example so that you may do as I have done. Believe me, the servant is not greater than his master and the messenger is not greater than the man who sent him. Once you have realised these things, you will find your happiness in doing them.

Observation

The point of the Bible is to tell us Who God is and how He wants us to fit into His story and His plan for our redemption.  All of the passages are there to reveal Who He is, what He desires of us and for us, and how He responds to our choices.  Jesus the Christ, the manifestation of God in human form, called Himself “gentle (meek) and humble” (Matthew 11:28-30), defined servanthood as the path to pleasing God, and spoke of Himself as serving all of us by giving His life as a ransom for us all (God’s redemptive plan to restore the intimate relationship He desired with us and intended from the beginning).  In the passages above, Jesus demonstrates for His disciples the depth of humility to which they must stoop if they want to be like Him and considered great and first in God’s Kingdom.  Jesus had come to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah regarding the servanthood of Messiah (Isaiah 42:1-4, Matthew 12:16-21), the bowing low of God to redeem His creation, His people, so that He might restore the intimate relationship with us disrupted in the Garden of Eden.

Foot-washing was an important element of hospitality for the culture of the time as feet became dirty walking on dusty roads.  As important to hospitality as it was, the lowest, almost always Gentile, servants were the ones to do it.   When Jesus “took off his outer clothes, picked up a towel and fastened it round his waist,” He took on the persona of a menial foreign slave.  Disciples were supposed to serve their Master/Rabbi, not the other way around.  Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of Man, God, was demonstrating the kind of humility and servanthood He required of them to truly be one of His disciples.  “But if I, your teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you must be ready to wash one another’s feet. I have given you this as an example so that you may do as I have done.”  

Did you catch that He washed ALL of the disciples’ feet – including the feet of Judas who was about to betray Him?  This level of humility requires more than setting pride aside temporarily.  This level of humility requires complete surrender, total submission to the will and purpose of God Who does not want any to perish (2 Peter 3:9).   This was a powerful discipleship lesson which was apparently caught and embraced as His disciples later identified themselves as servants (or slaves) of God and committed even to die in His service – John (Rev. 1:1), Paul (1 Cor 3:5-6), Peter (2 Peter 1:1), James (James 1:1), Jude (Jude 1:1). 

Impact on Me

Merriam Webster defines “humble” as “not proud: not thinking of yourself as better than other people.”   A servant is simply one who serves others.  Servant in the New Testament is often translated as slave.  We don’t like that word as it has a bad taste in our historical context.  The position Jesus took above was as low as He could go in His culture.  What is the lowest I can go in service today – an unpaid volunteer in homeless ministry, serving orphans in a foreign land, working to change the lives of the poorest so they can have a better future?  I know people who do all these and will never have any recognition on earth but much treasure in heaven.

I have participated in foot-washing services and it is a very humbling experience.  However, this passage is not meant to tell me how important foot-washing services are, but, rather, that I need to be willing to set aside my pride and any status provided by my position to gladly and humbly serve those who have nothing to give me in return.  Jesus is demonstrating to me (and us all) the kind of humility and service I am to emulate if I want to be like Him in this day and age. Jesus is showing me that it’s not a sign of weakness to serve someone — it’s a sign of love, strength and humility – all treasures in His kingdom.  Jesus is saying to me, “Don’t view yourself as better than other people – even your enemy – for I died for him/her, too.”   This is a hard lesson to embrace and live.

Devotion

Father God, You are Love and created us in Your image.  You rule over the universe and yet still bowed so low to redeem me. You gave Jesus to walk this earth as a human to show us how to live in and for You.  I am humbled by how lowly Jesus bowed, how much He sacrificed, to restore intimacy between us.  I am woefully inconsistent in my attempts to emulate Jesus’ example.  However, I pray that as I find each new pocket of pride, You will, by Your Holy Spirit, help me to place that pride on Your altar to be burnt up.  I truly want to be more like Jesus day by day as I journey through this life.  Make it so, Lord, in Jesus’ name. 

On Disreputable Characters

Matthew 9:9-13 MSG Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” Matthew stood up and followed him.

10-11 Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and misfits?”

12-13 Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”

Matthew 23:13-14 Phillips “But alas for you, you scribes and Pharisees, play-actors that you are! You lock the door of the kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces; you will not go in yourselves neither will you allow those at the door to go inside.

Observation

Tax collectors, especially Jewish ones, were anathema and traitors to the Jews because they served the Romans by agreeing to extract (and profit from) exorbitant taxes imposed on their fellows.  Anyone who associated with a tax collector would be a “disreputable character” in the sight of both Pharisees and fishermen.  Jesus regularly engaged in this kind of shock therapy with His disciples to break down their strongholds of prejudice and judgment created by tradition and teaching of the religious leaders.

Jesus also purposely challenged the man-made rules of the Pharisees, but never broke Mosaic Law.  Jesus accused the Pharisees of being so obsessed with duty and form that they missed the heart of God – grace, mercy and redemption.  He accused them of misinterpreting God’s intended relationship with His creation.  In Matthew 23 Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites who played the role of true spiritual men but were really only playacting rather than serving God with a pure heart.  Above He accused them of foolishly and jealously (and unnecessarily) guarding the door of Heaven to keep out disreputable characters and missing the blessing of entering in themselves. Jesus came to throw the doors open wide.

Impact on Me

So, I have to ask myself – who do I consider disreputable characters, traitors, unworthy of heaven?   Who do I mark as unredeemable, untouchable, crooks and misfits?  Where am I playing the role of a spiritual woman to look good when my actions don’t represent what is in my heart?  Where are the places in me that I don’t want Jesus to challenge and the Holy Spirit to touch?  Hard questions that must be answered if I want to avoid playing a role and start living a holy life.

When I was first saved, my husband and I had a charter sportfishing boat.  We spent many hours a day at the docks.  The docks harbor many people who lead a rough and raw life – most of us would label them disreputable characters.  On our way home one day I was thinking about (and judging negatively) a man on the docks who was coarse, hedonistic and disrespectful to women.  In that Pharisee moment, I saw him as filthy and unredeemable.  The Holy Spirit in His grace and mercy hit me with the baseball bat of His insight and I heard, “Yes, that is what your soul looked like before you received Jesus.”  I wept because I realized that I had so easily forgotten the undeserved and overwhelming grace and mercy I received from the God Who gave His only Son for me and for Whom all is possible.  This is why I need to ask myself again and again the questions above, allowing Jesus to examine my heart and the Holy Spirit to change me for the better.

Prayer

O Lord, God of the Impossible, Father of Mercy and Grace, how quickly I tend to judge other’s worth when I need to be judging my response to the grace and mercy I have received.  I want to be a Pharisee in diligence, in studying Your Word, but keep me from falling into the trap of thinking that You are performance-based and give more worth by my achievements.  Keep my heart soft toward the disreputable characters, the crooks and misfits that I might be an instrument of redemption in Your Hand.  May I be one hugging and welcoming those who enter Your gates.  Make it so, in Jesus’ name.

On Handicaps

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (MSG) Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, “My grace is enough; it’s all you need.  My strength comes into its own in your weakness.”  Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

Observation

Paul considers his “thorn in the flesh” to be a gift because it reminds him that no healing or miracle is done in his own strength.  He is reminding us all that no matter what we bring to God’s work (talent, ability, education or ??) or accomplish in His name, we need to humbly give all the praise to Him, recognizing that it all arises from what we allow Him to do and be in and through us.  Paul knows that God can give any power, authority, talent, wisdom, strength, ability, words and any other resource to any one at any time to accomplish His will and purpose.  We should not consider ourselves special because He chose to give us a few that impress people.  Look at the artisans who constructed the Temple – no one is humanly talented enough to beat that elaborate candlestick out of one lump of gold.  God must have had His hand in it. 

We see God in Scripture reminding us of Who He is (“the Lord High and Mighty) and who we are if we remain meek and humble, allowing Him to be our strength.  One of my go-to stories is always Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace and coming out alive without smelling like smoke!   When I feel completely overwhelmed and insufficient, I am reminded the four lepers of 1 Kings 7, considered worthless by the city and yet the ones who brought salvation from desperate famine.   And then there is Jesus, Who drove sickness, disease and demons out with a word or a touch.

Paul is saying that his “gift of a handicap” rescues him from becoming prideful and accepting praise for God’s works.  Paul’s handicap is a constant reminder that when he allows God to be strong in his weakness, God comes in like a flood and accomplishes all He has planned.

Impact on Me

I am a person who does not like to be the center of attention.  Please don’t hand me the microphone!  This does not mean that I do not struggle at times with being unrecognized (which pride translates as unappreciated).   I have to burn calories to change the devil’s recording – “That was really bad!  No one thinks you are doing a good job!  You said what!?   You are hopeless!”  and so on.  I have to replace that recording with what Jesus says about me – “You are a child of God and a temple of the Holy Spirit.  I am with you and will never leave you.  I love and appreciate you and that will never change.  I have called you and will give you all you need to accomplish My will and purpose.”  

“I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness.”  Pride always exposes weaknesses to condemn and accuse, but Paul is telling me (and you) that God exposes weaknesses so, when I surrender, I can flow in His strength.  This is a new perspective for me.   I am being asked to ignore the judgment, criticism and culture of my world to accept and see my life, my thoughts, my doings from God’s perspective.   As with Paul, my handicaps are meant to expose those hidden pockets of pride, my weaknesses, my “high and mighty” thoughts so I can take my limitations in stride and let Jesus take over.

Prayer

Lord, I want to take my limitations in stride and with good cheer, as Paul did.  I want to be surrounded by others who understand and accept limitations as opportunities for You to be strong and mighty.  I want to trust You enough to wait until You are ready to do a thing, even if I am getting really nervous or anxious from what I see as urgent.  Give me the gift of always being aware of my limitations and how they can be an opportunity for You to be strong.  I want to live a life surrendered to You, dependent upon You, listening to You, guided by You, awash in You.  Draw me into the garden with You more and more.  I love You, Lord.  In Jesus’ Name, make it so.

On Cleaning the Slate

Psalm 19:7-14 NLT  7 The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul.  The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.  8 The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart.  The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.  9 Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever.  The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.  10 They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold.  They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.  11 They are a warning to Your servant, a great reward for those who obey them.   12 How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?  Cleanse me from these hidden faults.  13 Keep Your servant from deliberate sins!  Don’t let them control me.  Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.  14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:7-14 MSG The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together.  The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road.  The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy.  The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes.  God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee.  The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree.  10 God’s Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds.  You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.

11-14 There’s more:  God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure.  Otherwise, how will we find our way?  Or know when we play the fool?  Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!  Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.  These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray.  Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

Observation

God’s nature is revealed through His Word.  Through all David’s disappointments, trials and failings, he learned that everything he needed could be found in submitting to and obeying God’s commands.  David’s worship extols God’s nature as revealed to him by God’s words and actions – “…perfect, reviving the soul…trustworthy, making wise the simple…right, bringing joy to the heart…clear, giving insight for living… pure, lasting forever… true; each one is fair.”  Regardless of his experience or current circumstance, David’s worship reflected and rejoiced in Who God is.

Nonetheless, David recognized that he himself was less than perfect or trustworthy.  He ends this psalm with words of repentance and humility.  “Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!  Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work.”  Isn’t this the cry of every humble human heart who strives to please God, to walk worthy of the love and grace so freely given, to be that good and faithful servant?

Impact on Me

I hear in this psalm the wonder, the awe, the gratitude, the humility, the meekness that fired David’s worship. It is one I revisit often. It is full of awe and wonder over the love, wisdom, beauty, majesty, perfection of God Who, for some unimaginable reason, hears me, out of all the voices, and responds with love, grace and mercy to “scrub me clean of the grime of sin” again.  The more amazing thing is that He finds joy in the scrubbing!  It is better for me to listen to Him and avoid falling into the grimy pit, committing “stupid sins, from thinking I can take over Your work.” However, when I do muck myself up again and sincerely repent, putting my stupid pride on the “morning altar,” and committing to listen and obey more faithfully, He “cleans the slate…so we can start the day afresh”.  Surely these things should fire my daily worship with the same wonder, awe, gratitude, humility, and meekness that fired David’s worship!  

The question is, “Does it?”  Do I take time to marvel at the wonder of God’s love and care for me?  Do I put more value on worshipping Him than on seeking praise for what I have done?  Am I ever grateful for God’s readiness to clean the slate when I come again to repent for rushing off to take over?   Am I humble enough to expose my hidden faults, my stupid sins to repent and free Him to forgive?   Do I want to make the David-like choices, sometimes hard, difficult, humiliating, or terrifying, to become one after God’s own heart?  Again, I pray that the Holy Spirit will fill me with the courage and strength to do so.

Prayer

God of mercy and grace, You are endlessly patient—so much love, so deeply true—loyal in love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. Still, You do not ignore sin (Ex 34 MSG).  Lord God, I pray that You will give me the insight, wisdom and strength to be totally transparent before You, allowing Your Holy Spirit to expose my hidden faults/stupid sins and that I might be humble enough to repent for them.  Rekindle the fire in me that will restore that awe and wonder in my worship, whether in a group or all alone.  May others come to know Christ because they meet Him in me.  Make it so, in Jesus’ name.