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humility

Humility: Foundation of Faith (Luke 17)

by TerryLema

There is a wonderful event in the life of Jesus related in Luke 17. It involved ten lepers who were healed by Jesus and sent off to the priests to affirm their cleansing. One, a Samaritan, came back and fell at Jesus’ feet offering praise and glory to God. I love that story, but it is not the one I want to focus on this morning.

The one that has always been especially precious to me – and especially challenging – is found earlier in the chapter. Jesus’ disciples asked Him to “Increase our faith.” Jesus tells them they just need faith like a mustard seed. [vs 5-6]

Ah, if Jesus had just left it there, but He did not. He goes on to tell them about the duty that is attached to the faith. He uses an example of a slave who has spent the day toiling in the fields who then comes home and needs to make dinner for the master.  He ends with a description of this slave that seems almost cruel. “In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are good-for-nothing [unworthy] slaves; we’ve only done our duty.’” [vs 10 HCSB]

When we approach this Scripture, we need to understand the norms of that society. Jesus describes here something that would have been a common practice and obvious to His listeners. It is totally foreign to us since this world’s idea of success is not servanthood but to lord it over others.

Jesus is not demeaning servants, instead He is giving the ideal of servanthood, and attaching duty to faith.  The true bondservant of Christ Jesus has no reason for pride. In its place there must be a true sense of duty that is rooted in humility.  Humility is the foundation of faith.

As we seek the LORD, our desire is to serve Him and do His work. That duty and accompanying faith provides us the power we need to thrive as we serve Him and others in His name.  Jesus reminds us that we are not to feel proud of our faith or of our good works. They are, after all, what is expected of those who desire to be disciples of Christ.

LORD Jesus, thank you for the opportunity to serve You and others in Your name! Amen.

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PRIDE vs Humility

by TerryLema

Last Sunday and this Sunday at The Way the message is Pride vs Humility. One of my favorite events in Scripture is found in the Book of Esther. It is also one of the best illustrations of PRIDE vs Humility.

Mordecai was Esther’s uncle, a righteous Jew. At the end of chapter 2, Mordecai learns of a plot to assassinate King Ahasuerus. He reports it to Queen Esther who then tells the king on Mordecai’s behalf. The plot thickens in Chapter 3 when the king honors a man named Haman. The king promotes him in rank and gives the command that everyone must bow down and pay homage to Haman. Mordecai will not do so, which enrages Haman. Haman plots to execute Mordecai and annihilate Mordecai’s people. That is when God enters the picture. God prepares Esther to intervene with the king at Mordecai’s request. Her rescue comes in chapters 7-10.

But my favorite part of the book happens in chapter 6, before Esther’s daring visit with the king and the rescue of her people. Chapter 6 is the duel between PRIDE and Humility.

I believe that God caused the king to have a restless night without sleep. During that night, while reading the record book of daily events, the king learns that Mordecai had foiled the plot of the assassins but had never been rewarded for it.  He decides to honor Mordecai and looks around for someone to carry out that command. Wouldn’t you know, the first person on the scene is Haman who is coming to demand Mordecai be executed because of his refusal to bow.

Haman is commanded to put a royal garment on Mordecai, place him on the king’s horse and parade him around the city square shouting, “This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.” [6:9 HCSB]

Haman’s PRIDE and Mordecai’s Humility came to blows and PRIDE lost. “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” [Prov 16:18]

Makes we wonder how many people are going to be leading horses around heaven, and how many people will be seated on them!

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God is Not Silent …

by TerryLema

Micah 6:8: “Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.” [HCSB]

I came across that verse last Monday afternoon. It is a well-known verse. I have seen it quoted often. I have heard messages on it and even preached messages on it myself. It made me consider a few things once again.

First, God is not – never has been – silent about what He expects of His creation. He has told us what is good, and He has been consistent in reminding us what is required of us. He did it in the Old Testament, and He repeated Himself through His Son in the New Testament.

It is clear. We are to act justly. We are to love faithfulness, or as the NKJV translates, we are to love mercy. We are to walk humbly with our God.

We are to act justly. As disciples of Christ Jesus, we are to act toward and treat all rightly, honorably, fairly, and honestly. Not always easy, but when have the commands of obedience from our God ever been easy! There are many in this life who have not been treated honorably or fairly. We can place whatever terminology on it we want, but the church must never be in the business of treating people dishonorably or unjustly.

We are to be a people who love faithfulness and mercy. Love it, act upon it, reflect it, give it. We know God always treats us faithfully and that His mercies are new to us every morning, but do we treat others the same way? Are we faithful to them? Are the mercies we have for them new every morning?

Last of all, we are to walk humbly with our God. If we strive to do the first two commands, we will find out just how difficult they are – then it is easy to walk humbly with our God!  There can be no arrogance, no pride, when we discover just how far removed we are from perfect obedience to a perfect, holy, wonderful, faithful, just God.

Amen & Amen

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Ridding Our Hearts of Pride …

by TerryLema

James 4:6 reminds us that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

I cannot imagine life knowing that God was “resisting” me because of my proud attitude. I need grace, daily, sometimes moment-by-moment grace. I guess that means I need to root out any of those proud undetected attitudes of pride that I mentioned in yesterday’s devotion.

Just knowing they are there and that I need to rid my heart and mind of them is only the beginning, how do we actually do that when faced with our own pride?  There are a few steps we can take.

First, we need to get a right view of God and our worship of Him. The only way to do that is to spend time in the Scriptures! We must learn everything we can about this God we claim. Through learning of Him, we will develop a right view of our relationship to Him. How did we come to Christ Jesus? We came with nothing to offer. No one brings anything to His Cross save repentance and surrender.

Once we know our God and how we are to relate to Him, we need to engage in self-examination, acknowledge any pride we find, repent, confess and receive His forgiveness. We must also submit to authority. One of the things about pride is that it will drive us away from others; pride tells us we know more than anyone else and do not need anyone to teach us. Lone Ranger Christians are just ripe to be picked off by the enemy. Remain teachable!

It also helps to have someone to whom we can be accountable. Find a prayer partner and tell them you are battling pride. Ask them to be honest with you.

Last, focus on others. Do good but do it quietly. Pride loves the limelight. Those things done in secret that only God knows about will help us in our battle against pride.

Father, drive pride far from me! Amen & Amen!

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I Am Humble!

by TerryLema

Ever try to be humble?  Maybe you have been reminded by the Holy Spirit that you need to be more Christ-like in your attitude than you currently are, as Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:5 to “Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus.”

So, you work at humility. You think you nailed it. You start thinking, I am humble(!), which of course defeats humility right then and there.  Humility is difficult because if we focus our attention on it, or if we chase it, we end up catching pride instead.

Paul gave us the recipe for humility.  “Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” [Philippians 2:3-4]

Humility is not trying to think less of ourselves, it is not thinking of ourselves first. It is considering the welfare of others more important and looking out for their well-being. Throughout the Scriptures are pathways to humility and they always lead us through the lives of others.

Let us understand. We are to provide for our needs and families surely, Scriptures are clear on that. We are to practice good spiritual self-care. But, when others need our time, our resources, our provisions, our encouragement, good will, comfort, or compassion—and we can provide those things—then we are to provide them. We give even if it means we sacrifice to do so. Most of us have far more than we really need anyway.

Perhaps, the most precious of all things we have to give others in need is our time. When we spend our time for others, humility slips in and takes up residence in our hearts.

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Clothe Yourself

by TerryLema

The other day I reminded us about who we are. Peter gave such a beautiful description of us in his first letter. “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” [2:9]

With all those marvelous privileges come heavy responsibilities. Paul is always good about reminding us of our responsibilities to God and to others. He wastes no times in Colossians 3. After reminding us we are a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices to God through Christ Jesus, the Chief Cornerstone, he tells how that should look in our daily walk.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” [v12]

When I read how Paul described our “garments” – what we are to be “clothed with” – I recall the coat that Jacob made for his son, Joseph. It is described as a “coat of many colors” in Genesis 37. Jacob gave Joseph that beautiful precious coat because he loved his son.

Paul tells us that as God’s chosen people, we are also “dearly loved” by our Father. As such, we are to wear a beautiful spiritual coat that reflects the love we have received from Him. This coat is colored with compassions, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

When we adorn ourselves with our coat of many colors and walk our Christian walk in this world, we bless others. We reflect how much the love of our Father has changed us. We are not cruel as many are, but gentle and kind. We are not angry but filled with patience. We are not arrogant, but humble. We walk with quiet strength amid all circumstances.

There are no exceptions contained in our responsibilities, no matter the difficulties that surround us. We do not stop being clothed with our spiritual coat of many colors just because of a fear-and-virus pandemic. If anything, our spiritual coat should be on even greater display.

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Shine!

by TerryLema

Yesterday I was reminded by Philippians 2:14 that I am “to do everything without complaining or disputing (arguing).” I also discovered that I can no longer blame my current irritability on a medication side-effect, especially since I was off the medication for two weeks (and still irritable). No, I must claim my irritability as my own and surrender to another attitude adjustment.

When Paul told his Philippian readers (and us) to do everything without irritability, he followed it up with the reasoning for that command. “…so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” [2:15-16a NIV]

One thing the world is extremely good at is complaining and arguing. It seems people cannot be happy unless they have something to complain about or someone with which to argue. God’s children are to be different. We are to be blameless, pure and without fault. We are to reflect the virtues and attitudes of Jesus that Paul listed in the beginning of the chapter.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phil 2:3-4)

By adopting the attitudes of our LORD and Savior, we will shine like the “stars in the universe.” Ever spend time looking at the sky at night? It is completely dark except … except for those stars that stand out in the darkness. As they hold out light in the sky, Christians are to shine in this world and hold out the word of life. By our Christ-like attitudes we give others light in their darkness, hope in their hopelessness.

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