11/16/2025
When we look into the mirror do we consider ourselves to be great men or women of God? Do we have stripes on our sleeves for all to see, as we live the years of our faith for everyone to marvel at? Is our goal for each day to show those around us how mightily we serve God, or the pious nature of our calling? If so, then we had better stop the pompous religiosity and seek out the humility of Christ... we need to be humble like Jesus and give the honor and glory to God. We need to stop boasting about the notoriety of our own righteousness and works and start boasting in God alone.
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
The Corinthian Christians were largely gentile, but there were also circumcised Jews among them who ate according to the Jewish food laws and behaved in many ways like those of the Jewish faith. This was a matter of religious piety to them, but also a matter of pride as it separated them from the gentiles. Paul’s mission was one of freeing them from the chains of the law, but more than that, it was to make them accepting of their brothers and sisters, the gentile Christians.
Do we carry around that trait of separation in us today? Do we have certain “laws” that we use within our church to separate ourselves or establish a cast system? Are there greater and lesser among us? If so, listen to Paul as he continues to write...
“Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.”
1 Corinthians 10:32-33 ESV
As I was reading a devotional message this morning it had to do with placing God before ourselves. It spoke of serving Him without fanfare, and to do so by joining with all of those who seek Him into one body... it spoke of uniting ourselves in Christ and told us not to divide the church. We might consider ourselves greater than our fellow man because of our righteousness, but we are meant to live our lives in Jesus amidst other humans, and in a world filled with humanity. Listen to what Paster Oswald Chambers wrote on this subject…
“The test of the life of a saint is not success in Christian work as the aim; the aim is to manifest the glory of God in human life, to live the life hid with Christ in God in human conditions. Our human relationships are the actual conditions in which the ideal life of God is to be exhibited.” - Oswald Chambers
So, how do we go about this? How can we successfully love the sinners as we gently lead them to believe in God and Jesus Christ while helping them lose their propensity for sin? Well, we don’t point at Mt. Everest and say... “When you have summited that, then you will know Jesus!”, no, we begin with softly rolling hills and demonstrate the presence of Christ within us in a way that they feel able to follow Him. We encourage them with our humility in faith and tell them that the least will be greatest and that our faith grows day by day.
“But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Matthew 19:30 ESV
Isn’t this what scripture tells us to do? Aren’t we meant to lead others through this journey even as Jesus leads us? Our faith isn’t meant to be a skydiving lesson that begins by our being pushed alone from a plane and forced to succeed or fail in a few harrowing moments. Our faith is a journey by foot... long and within our ability to accomplish, and we make it by walking together, guided by the Word of God, and the life of Christ as demonstrated by the saints around us.
Jesus spoke of a physical child, but weren’t his words also metaphorically speaking of all men who were like a child in their faith?
“and said to them, "Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great."”
Luke 9:48 ESV
The goal is not to raise up children that will always be less than we are, but children that exceed our wildest dreams. Our greatest hope for those new in faith should be that one day they will have greater faith than we have now. We should want them to stand on our shoulders and see further.
“"Truly, truly, I [Jesus] say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”
John 14:12 ESV
Is the pride we have in our faith a stumbling block to us, and others? Have we earned our reward here on earth by sacrificing our heavenly treasure? Do we wear our calling like a badge of honor, having lost your humility and a servant’s heart? Let’s search ourselves for these answers, and become one of the humble servants of God that others are able to see Jesus through. Let’s become a nondescript and unobtrusive glass jar that allows those around you to see our fasith within us without paying attention to the vessel itself.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your presence in my life, and for filling the amphora of my soul with your great mercy and kindness. Father I thank you for transforming me measure by measure into a more perfect likeness of your Son Jesus and for your mercy that flows from me as it covers those about me with the golden honey of your grace. Let your glory be all that is seen when those new in faith look to me during their journey. Let your Son Jesus Christ be the compass by which I travel Lord, and your light be the star that I follow home to you. In you I find the entirety of my reward, and in you my greatest treasure, never let me lose sight of this truth Holy Father. Never let me confuse the success you have in leading others to you through me with being my own, and grant me the humility that is required as I serve you always. There is no greatness on earth or in me that eclipses you Father, and I should always see your glory, not mine, as I follow your Son Jesus along your way, and encourage all of mankind to join with me in His footsteps. Praised be your name forever, and great is your mercy as you draw the world to Christ and into your loving grace that flows from Him and is meant to flow form me.
“For by the grace given to me [Paul] I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
Romans 12:3-5 ESV
Amen!
Rich Forbes