Archive for the ‘Humility’ Category

Day 358: Micah 2-6 — Regaining Focus

Friday, December 24th, 2010

I often get overwhelmed by swarms of details. Thinking of all the little things that need to be done will paralyze me with fear so that I end up not doing anything. Or I might feel that if there is a single part of the task that I am unable or unwilling to do, I might as well not do any of it. But if/when I am able to focus on the purpose of the task I can be motivated to push on to the goal. I often wonder if this misunderstanding and lack of focus is similar to what Israel faced throughout its history. Were they overwhelmed by the seeming complexity or specificity of the Law of Moses? Where there too many things to keep track of and to fall short of so they just gave up?

In the today’s reading in Micah 2-6, we again see the results of the many failings of God’s people. They had fallen so far and I’m certain had a hard time seeing their way back go God. But as we read in Micah the situation is simpler than what we believe. All the laws and ceremonies, do’s and don’ts, sacrifices and rituals are summed up in these few verses:

With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:6-8)

Wow! That’s only 3 things. I can handle 3 things. When we focus on the heart of the matter, what is really important and what God really desires, we may be spurred on to all the details of living rightly with God. But if our focus is off, no amount of rule keeping or sacrifice will bring us close to Him.

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Day 253: Psalm 110; 1 Corinthians 8:7-13 — My Burning Attitude

Friday, September 10th, 2010

For some reason when I read Psalm 110 tonight the current situation with the burning of another religion’s holy text came to mind. “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet…He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.” It seems that those involved think that God has spoken these same words to them today and they are leading the fight vociferously in defense of God’s kingdom (or possibly their own). Whether this is true or not, it’s where my mind went. But then as I start to condemn them for their nasty behaviors, I jump over to I Corinthians 8:7-13.

The other emotion I feel for them besides anger is pity. I feel sorry that their hyper-condemnatory views and actions are probably turning people off to the message of Christ. I feel sorry that they live such angry lives that the only way they know to express themselves is with flamboyant displays of futility. I think a point Paul is trying to make is that how we react to situations with which we disagree or even detest especially in the sight of others is an important part of our testimony to believers and non-believers alike. Whether I think I’m the stronger or weaker brother in this situation is not even important. But if I react with anger, bile, hatred, rudeness or even apathy to the situations around me, someone is watching. It might be my 11 year old son, the neighbor across the street, a coworker, or a complete stranger.

So many times in my life I’ve unfairly judged others by standards I made up. I remember as a teenager very much having a holier-than-thou attitude towards others in the youth group who didn’t show up for every event like I did or maybe only showed up for the “fun” events like Six Flags or camp. It was also fun to criticize all the stupid rules that other adults put in place for things that go on in the church.

As I’ve grown up I’m sorry to say that some of this attitude still remains. I criticize those that aren’t as good as me and fight with those who try to put too many walls in places I don’t think they should be. Whether I’m right or wrong in my assessments is not the point. My judgments and grumblings are not conducive to the spreading of the gospel. Thankfully Paul shows us an attitude of humility. And when attacked, he doesn’t fight back. He defends his case lovingly and thoroughly. His goal is not to make himself look good but always to advance the cause of Christ and never to do anything to hinder it.

Father, give me a spirit like Paul that I may be humble and not say and do the stupid stuff that will turn others away from you.

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Posted in 1 Corinthians, Anger, Complaining, Humility, Judging, Psalms | 2 Comments »

Day 246: 1 Corinthians 1:14-2 Corinthians 2:5 — Humbleness

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Have you ever thought of Paul as being humble. I really have not pictured Paul as a humble man. I picture through reading his writings, Paul as a strong, confident man who was not afraid to proclaim the gospel any place, any time, to any people. From these particular scriptures, I get a different picture of Paul. Paul takes on a humble nature in order that God is glorified. Paul expressed that he was glad that he had baptized only a few people (1 Cor. 1:14-17) so that he did not become the center of attention by people who might egotistically want to put it out that they were better than other baptized believers because they had been baptized by Paul. Humans tend to want to do things like that to make themselves appear to be better than others in the same situation.

Paul then goes on to discuss how the power of God “destroys the wisdom of the wise and frustrates the intelligence of the intelligent” (1 Cor. 1:19). Paul elaborates by stating how Christ crucified is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:23). The Jews expected a triumphant, political Messiah and the Greeks and Romans thought that no reputable person would be crucified since crucifixion was for criminals. Both groups could not imagine that the Savior of the World would save them through something that they thought was below such a Savior or King. Paul says that God used this to demonstrate that what man thought was foolishness was really wise.

How often do we find ourselves, or a better way to say it is how often do I find myself thinking “God wouldn’t really do it that way would he?” What I forget is that God thinks in a different way than I do. He uses all different means, even what appears to us to be lowly people, things, or situations to advance his purpose. Paul was trying to tell the Corinthians and thus us that we need to look past ourselves and our thoughts and put God first. In this way we are humbling ourselves to God or putting him first and not our agenda first.

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Posted in 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Humility, Paul | 1 Comment »

Day 240: Romans 12:3-21 — Sober judgment and one body

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. Romans 12:3-6

This chapter very much reminds me of 2 other passages in the Bible, and I see definite parallels between the three. Consider Colossians 3:1-2:

1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Just as these verses and the remainder of Colossians 3 give us some guides on proper Christian behavior and setting ourselves apart from the world, Romans 12 teaches us how to act within the body of Christ. The idea in both chapters is to think of others above ourselves, just as Jesus would.

Which brings us to the second parallel I see to Romans 12:

1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:1-11

I think I’ll just let these 3 snippets from the Holy Spirit speak for themselves.

Do you have the mind of Christ?

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Posted in Family, Humility, Love, Romans | Comments Off

Day 202: Nehemiah 8:1-18 — Please Stand

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

How many times has your mind wandered during a public reading? We sometimes read scripture aloud during an assembly. But it is just something we do or does the passage read really touch our heart? Does the passage read express a completed thought or are they just verses with no context that fill the allotted time?

I can remember early one Sunday morning still trying to decide what to preach on. Yes, I know that is cutting it really close to the wire, but that was where I was at the time. I wound up reading Romans chapter eight. Without warning, tears were running down my face. I had my sermon for that morning. I still find it hard to read Romans eight without the tears flowing.

As I age I’m finding new meaning in more passages of scripture than ever before. Read about Christ on the cross and tears flow. Read about how people mourned over the loss of a loved one and the tears flow. Public reading of scripture — in Nehemiah 8:9 as the law was read to the people of Israel they stood and wept. They didn’t stand so they could weep; they stood out of respect for the “Law of God” that was being read. They wept because as they listened, they understood how far they had wandered from the truth.

The next time someone asks you to stand for the reading of God’s word, get prepared to listen and be moved. Moved to greater faithfulness, greater understanding, and greater realization of God’s love. It’s o.k.if the tears flow; that just means the heart has been moved.

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Posted in God's Word, Humility, Nehemiah | 1 Comment »

Day 137: 2 Samuel 16:1-18:18; Luke 23:13-31 — Betray or Be Faithful ?

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Ahithophel cannot wait to turn on David when the usurper Absalom rose to power. Hushai remained faithful in the face of a new and awesome threat. The Jewish leadership cannot wait to have the Romans crucify Jesus. The disciples do not know what to do, frightened, they will watch at a distance, but watch. “Institutionalized religion, the church, the old God, is not for me.” versus “I will cling to the old rugged cross.” Absalom represents the new order, the fresh look at the world, bold, uncharted, powerful. David’s faithful know this is just not right. Jesus threatened the world as they knew it, threatened the entire system by which they understood, ruled, were comfortable, safe. Jesus’ disciples know that He has brought a new age from God Himself. “My God would not stand for these old ways, these dry, narrow minds. The Bible needs new eyes for a new age — perhaps no Bible at all. God is in me and you. We are all gods and goddesses.” versus “Jesus loves me this I know, because the Bible tells me so.”

How so human. How so full of self. Full of rebellion. Full of Satan. When God’s anointed is not what we want Him to be, then we proudly proclaim from our dark emptiness of ignorance, “I know better.” When the Creator does not reflect our image then man decides that is not the real God, there surely must be another that looks more like, well, like me!

Then the others, so determined to be faithful in the face of death itself; so committed to the One Who truly loves them. Not knowing but yet trusting the One Who leads. These are blessed, walking by faith, not by sight.

Ahithophel and Absalom died cruelly. David retook the throne and planned the end of his enemies. The anointed of God ruled the dominion given to him. Jesus arose from the grave, astounding all who saw Him, frustrating all of his enemies who heard, “He lives.” The will of our Creator cannot be stopped, will not be frustrated. We can either work with Him and be blessed or stand — momentarily — in His way and find our best human wisdom thwarted and ground to dust by the Rock of Ages.

The next time we find faith untenable, obedience unfathomable, spirituality an unsolvable puzzle and life that makes no sense, remember those faithful of ages past. The risks, which were no risks at all to those who could truly “see.”

Prayer: Holy, Righteous, True and Faithful One, may we be faithful to You in this day.

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Posted in 2 Samuel, Cross, Discipleship, faith, Humility, Jesus, Luke | Comments Off

Day 114: Luke 12:22-40

Saturday, April 24th, 2010

Greetings to everyone!  When I read Luke 12:22-40 this time around, I ended up thinking about why Jesus came to earth in the first place.  Jesus chose to come down from the heavenly Father to show us how to do His will instead of our own selfish will, the will of the people, or the will of the government.  Put God’s will first and foremost, and eternity will be great, but you may find yourself doing some strange things on earth, like performing miraculous signs and wonders, teaching hungry hordes of people wandering like sheep without a shepherd, raising people from the dead, and dying painfully on a cross.

“Do not worry about your life,” Jesus says, because spiritual matters are more important than earthly issues, and your soul is more important than your flesh. God is in control, taking care of both.  If God takes care of ravens, lilies and grass, He will take care of us, too.  But there is this rebellion issue– WE of little faith!  We want good food, flavorful drinks (when water really is the best thing for us), nice clothes, large homes, and lots and lots of toys.  Now, these are all examples of my selfish will, not God’s will for my life.  The funny thing is, if we focus on God’s will and strive for His kingdom, Jesus says all these things will be given to us as well.  Note Jesus does not say I will ever earn them, but they will be given to me because it is the Father’s good pleasure to provide them in His kingdom.  But first, I must obey Him.  I must give up my rebellion, quit trying to do everything for myself and chasing after these things the nations of the world consider important.  I must submit, humbly bow to the Creator, and accept the gift He offers.

Jesus tells us not to be afraid, but I must admit I’m intimidated by the things God’s had ask others to do for Him.

Noah, build an ark on dry land. 
Abraham, sacrifice your son. 
Moses, lead my people out of Egypt. 
Joshua, march around the walls blowing trumpets. 
Samson, don’t cut your hair. 
David, kill a giant with a slingshot. 
Solomon, quit clinging to your wives in love.
Elijah, battle the prophets of Baal, only 400 to 1 odds.
Isaiah, prophecy poetically, and heal a boil with figs.
Jeremiah, do not pray for the welfare of this people, a rebellious house.
Ezekiel, eat this scroll.
Jonah, pay attention, don’t run away, now go save Nineveh.
Jesus, go down there and show them my love, and die trying.

To all of the rest of us, follow ME.

Ever noticed the difference between ‘Me’ and ‘We’ is the leading letter is turned upside down?   When we do what we want instead of what He wants, everything gets turned upside down.

Now, don’t be afraid, don’t worry about a thing.  Just have a little faith. (Gasp.)

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Posted in Discipleship, faith, Grace, Humility | 1 Comment »

Day 99: Luke 6:41-42 — Inspection

Friday, April 9th, 2010

My daughter has been going through the process of selling her house. One of the things required for the sale of the home to proceed was an inspection by a certified home inspector. As I looked over the list of things he had noted on his report, it was easy to see some of those items needed immediate attention. Others were more of a judgment call. I’m glad to say none of them were hard to take care of, and she has complied with all of the necessary repairs and the sale of her house is proceeding.

I wonder though what the inspector’s house looks like. You know about the old story of the cobbler’s children having no shoes. We don’t like others telling us what is wrong in our lives especially when it is so easy to see the flaws in theirs. Jesus said in Luke 6:41-42 (NASB95)

41“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42“Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

Verses 41-42 caution us about being inspectors. He doesn’t say never mention a need to someone else, but rather check yourself first. We would rather not do so; it is so much easier to pick someone else apart.

I want you to take this passage seriously. Many, many times I have put a half-finished sermon back on the shelf because I realized the need to clean up the log jam in my own life first. That is one of the problems with preaching, we don’t preach to straighten others out; we preach because doing so causes us to look at self first. We preach, while pleading for your help, to get our own lives right with God.

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Posted in Humility, Jesus, Judging, Luke | 1 Comment »

Day 44: Exodus 39:2-40:33 — Attention to detail

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Israelite high priest's garmentsAttention to detail. Whenever I hear that phrase, it takes me back to my military days. One good progress report certainly couldn’t advance one’s career, but a single bad report would likely be all it took to send an airman job-hunting. Since everyone had good progress reports, in the small percentage of cases where bad ones were warranted, they really stood out. Attention to detail was one of the things that was often mentioned in an Airman Performance Report (APR), and at one time was required to mention.

The Israelites certainly had reason to be concerned about attention to detail. There were after all, 613 commandments given in the law. What we read about in today’s reading were instructions to Moses rather than commandments for the community, but they were certainly details Moses had to be concerned about.

“Make the ephod of gold, and of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen.”

That’s just the ephod. There were laws on how to live, how to relate, how to eat, how to worship. Compared with the “old law”, the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ” (Rom 8:2) is conspicuously silent on many matters. And isn’t that what bothers us so much?

We’re comfortable with boundaries, and the “do it right, dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s” in us just feels more at ease when we know we can cross off this one and check that one.

The same God who gave the Israelites all those rules also told us that “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal 5:1). It’s easy to want to interpret this as “freedom to,” but He’s really talking about “freedom from.” In Christ, we are freed from slavery to the law and are instead “slaves to righteousness” (Rom 6:15-23).

Let’s not make the mistake of thinking that since under Christ there are less rules on that checklist, God is thus is implying we needn’t be concerned about what pleases Him. This is the same God that brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, and He still very much desires a close relationship with His children (Col 3, for a start). Attention to detail is important — not because it’s a law chiseled in stone and because we have to obey or else, but because we want to do those things that are pleasing to the Father and which bring us closer to Him.

If you want to strengthen your relationship with your husband, you will learn as much as possible about what pleases him, then do those things. If you want to be closer to your wife, you will engage in conversation with her — tell her what’s on your heart, and listen when she talks to you.

Question: What are you doing to strengthen your relationship with your Heavenly Father?

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Day 38: Matthew 23:1-12 — Rank and File

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

phylacteriesIn 2005 I was working as a civilian contractor for the United States Army. More specifically, I worked for the United States Army Accessions Command (USAAC) located at Fort Knox, Kentucky. I won’t get into what I was doing for them because it would take too long to explain and it would keep me up all night reliving 6AM conference calls and flying all day for a two hour meeting.

However, I will tell you that I learned so many things working for and with the men and women serving our country. My time there was an experience I value greatly. Two things you learn very quickly when working for the U.S. Army is how to recognize rank and that you DO NOT BREAK PROTOCOL. As I type, I can still hear a grizzled Master Sergeant growl that in my ear while I was on-base at Fort Sam Houston. I had mistakenly kicked off the meeting while I had a “full bird” Colonel in the room. Oops. No, I wasn’t a soldier but that didn’t spare me from a good old-fashioned dressing down. As a matter of fact, recognition of rank and following protocol really go hand in hand. I didn’t go to Colonel Vasek for an issue that Major Sizemore could (and should) handle.

The Jews of Jesus’ time recognized rank as well and it was fairly easy to do. They associated phylacteries, broad tepillin, long and elaborate tassels or fringes attached to the outer cloak’s four corners (Num 15:38-40, Deut 22:12) as someone of importance. In short, anyone living at that time could easily recognize the Pharisees. The Pharisees relished the attention and the honor (Matt 23:5-7). In that culture virtually everything was done by social rank or status. Who sat where at meals, who ate first and how you were greeted are just some of the many examples of this social protocol that was strictly maintained. Keeping in mind that the book of Matthew was written to show the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah and that a new law was in place, Jesus takes every opportunity to sharply rebuke the way and manner of the Pharisees. “Do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.” “Everything they do is for man to see.”

The Pharisees set themselves apart not to honor God, but to call attention to themselves and be honored. Jesus makes it more than clear that we are not to set ourselves apart for honor or reverence. We are to be humble servants in His name. I think Colossians 3:17 works well here.

Question: When working in the Lord’s service, do we sometimes want to be recognized for our efforts?  How does that align with the above text?

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