All tagged humility
Are we prepared to do our Heavenly Father's bidding? I am not talking about the things we consider to be the grand tasks of heaven, but rather, the trivial and menial jobs. Those that occur every day as we live out our lives; the ones that humble us and define us as servants.
Humility Gives Wings to Prayer... That is a wonderful title for a devotional message on praying as we should, and this is the second time in a week that we are visiting the subject of humility. Humility places God and others before ourselves and admits that we are lacking in some way. This is a holy virtue indeed. Perhaps the Spirit is leading us back to look at our humility once more because we are still found lacking in it, or maybe we are being taught how to portray it better in our lives so that it might be seen more clearly by others as they pursue faith and salvation in theirs.
Great power accompanies great faith. When we have an abiding faith in Jesus Christ we have gained access to the ultimate power of the creator. Nothing is beyond His ability, and in the name of Jesus nothing is beyond ours either. Jesus said this openly of Himself, and we should not be apologetic about the faith and power in our lives either.
This morning as I read a devotional reading by E.M. Bounds, he stressed the importance of humility in respect to our ability to pray. I especially enjoyed reading his observation that "To be clothed with humility is to be clothed with a prayer garment." Are we clothed in this way as we enter into our prayer closets, or otherwise begin to pray? Do we think that we can be arrogant before God, or demand anything of the creator of all things? Let’s think now about our demeanor as we come before God, or attempt to pray in the name of Jesus.
What will our reaction be when we see Jesus face to face? Will we fall to our knees because we are unworthy? Will we fall to our knees and praise Him? Will we kiss his face, or maybe we will wash his feet with our tears? Any of these might happen, but there is always the possibility that we will be so overcome with emotion that we will faint, or that we might not recognize Him at first. How do you think you will react, and will it be in shame, tears, joy, or utter disbelief that He has come to you at last?
We are meant to humble ourselves before God even in those times of our greatest strength, but why? The world tells us that we do so because even when we are mighty He is stronger yet, when we are hungry He feeds us, when our lips are parched He brings forth water from the rocks, and when our enemies are preparing to destroy us He defends us, but In truth we do so because He loves us so perfectly. Although we love Him with all our being, He loves us more. God doesn’t demand that we approach Him on our knees, we do this out of our desire to yield ourselves entirely to Him. So, are we humbling ourselves before our Lord God, His children, and even those who are old and weak, or are we waiting to be humbled for our arrogance, and selfishness, before we do so?
We see the poor, and the hungry every day. Some are on the streets begging for money, some are sleeping in doorways, and others just walk past us on the streets. Some are overlooked, but all are lost. What is our reaction to them? Do we turn our faces away, simply pity them, look on them with disdain, or do we give them aid… perhaps a few dollars, a bottle of water, some food, or maybe a place to sleep? The decision we make regarding them can not only change their lives, but can alter ours as well… now, and for eternity.
When everything is going remarkably well in our lives it is easy to become proud, and to walk arrogantly in the world, so we are taught to be humble, and when life is beating us down, and Satan is attacking us at every turn, we can become distressed, and depressed, so we are taught to stand tall, and lean on God. The challenge is not to simply be humble, or to stand only in our strength, it is to know when it is appropriate for us to display one, or the other. The goal is to be neither defeated by our pride, nor destroyed by the suffering that life is handing us. Our faith teaches us to find a gentle and productive place in Christ where we can be like Him; avoiding arrogance, while experiencing strength, and standing firm in the midst of our humility.
We sit before Jesus listening as He teaches, and we speak of being humble, but when He kneels before us, do we let Him wash our feet? Do we share in this moment of His humility, service, and love? Can we even allow Him to kneel before us? Can we begin to feel what He is feeling at that moment, when one at a time He takes each of our feet into His hand and ladles water over it with His other? Do we feel ashamed as He rubs the filth from us, and is that shame because we are allowing Him to serve us in a manner that we feel is demeaning to Him, or because we have looked upon so many others as being less when they were serving us? This one act of foot washing teaches us truths at so many levels.
All of our advances in faith, and a righteous life, follow after our humility, and our desire to obey the Lord. When we pray with pride, or read scripture from a position of arrogant intellect, then there is no answer, and the truth in God’s Word remains hidden from us. In this way our belief in God, and faith in Jesus Christ, are merely outer garments that cover a religion based on our self alone. Until we humble ourselves, and let our love for God replace our desire to interpret scripture as we wish it to be, and stop praying as a form of negotiation, but pray instead in absolute humility, then we are attempting to establish a business arrangement with God, and He has no interest in sharing His sovereignty with us.