2003-05-02
Good Morning Cherished Readers,
In the last message I introduced this new series on True Faith, and was led to begin looking at Christ’s description of who will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. We continue with that today. MT 5 :5, “Happy of those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised!” When someone says the word, “humble,” to me, I immediately get a picture of Abraham Lincoln in my mind. But, if we ask ourselves who did Abraham Lincoln acquire his humility from, we must realize that he was brought up in a home where his parents were faithful, hardworking folk. They taught him humility, humility they most likely learned from their faith in Jesus Christ. Repeatedly, we have been called to be humble. Under the circumstances with the promise of MT 5: 5, it is appropriate that we delve into the Scriptures to see what God has to say to us about humility.
We know that those people who God saw fit to bless in the Bible were the ones who were humble before him. Jacob was one of these people, as we see from GN 32: 9-10, part of his prayer to God for protection from his perceived fear of Esau’s anger upon his return from years spent with Laban. “Then Jacob prayed, ‘God of my grandfather, Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac, hear me! You told me, Lord, to go back to my land and to my relatives, and You would make everything go well for me. I am not worth all the kindness and faithfulness that you have shown me, Your servant.” I crossed the Jordan with nothing but a walking stick, and now I have come back with these two groups [referring to two groups of people and animals, divided for safety].” Another example of a humble man was Solomon in his youth. This is seen in 1 K 3: 7, “O Lord God, You have let me succeed my father as king, even through I am very young and do not know how to rule.” The Psalmist showed a beautiful, humble heart when he wrote in PS 123: 1-2, “Lord, I look up to You, up to heaven, where You rule. As a servant depends on His master, as a maid depends on her mistress, so we will keep looking to You, O Lord our God, until You have mercy on us.” PR 16: 19 tells us, “It is better to be humble and stay poor than to be one of the arrogant and get a share of their loot.” Through Isaiah, we are able to get God’s slant on the issue of humility in IS 57:15, “I am the high and holy God, Who lives forever. I live in a high and holy place, but I also live with people who are humble and repentant, so that I can restore their confidence and hope.” It almost sounds like one is reading the NT with this last citation, doesn’t it?
Now, let’s look at the some citations from the NT. Little can compare with the humility that John the Baptist showed in MT 3: 11, “I baptize you with water to show that you have repented, but the One Who will come after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He is much greater than I am; and I am not good enough even to carry His sandals.” We are given a gorgeous picture of the humble man in JN 3: 29-30. “The Bridegroom is the One to Whom the bride belongs; but the Bridegroom’s friend, who stands by and listens, is glad when he hears the Bridegroom’s voice. This is how my own happiness is made complete. He must become more important while I become less important.” This discussion wouldn’t be complete without an example of Christ’s very own humility in JN 5: 30, “I can do nothing on My own authority; I judge only as God tells me, so my judgment is right, because I am not trying to do what I want, but only what He Who sent me wants.” For us to be Christ’s disciples, we must show humility. That is discussed in LK 9: 23-26, “And He said to them all, ‘If anyone wants to come with Me, he must forget himself, take up his cross every day, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. Will a person gain anything if he wins the whole world but is himself lost or defeated? Of course not! If a person is ashamed of Me and of My teaching, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
Paul felt that humility was important enough to include it as one of the fruits of the Spirit in GA 5: 22-23, “But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is not law against such things as these.” These examples of humility are given to us all over the Scriptures for an important reason. God’s will is to bring as many people back to Him as possible, wresting back dominion over them held now by Satan. This is made possible by Christ’s death on the cross and a person’s willingness to repent and come to faith in the Son. Today, we must each examine how humble we really are. We must ask ourselves: Are we willing to submit to God’s authority and obey His commands? Are we living with the love the Christ has called us to in JN 13: 34-35?
PRAYER: O Lord, You have been kind and generous in helping us to know Your will. That certainly applies to the issue of humility. You reveal Yourself in our daily lives. PS 107: 43, “Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.” No friend we have, even our spouses whom we love dearly, are more faithful and better promise keepers than You. Throughout the history of mankind, we have seen so much evidence of Your faithfulness to us. We are called upon to examine our lives to see how closely they line up with Your will. You would have us do this, because Your will is that our salvation should not be wasted on weak faith that doesn’t take root. You understood that when we came to faith and repented, that would have to go through the process of sanctification. You wanted to perfect us, so that we could have that meeting with Christ in the air at the sound of the last trumpet [1 THESS 4: 13-17]. We learn from PS 33: 13 that You look down from heaven and see every person on earth. The same information is imparted in 2 CH 16: 9, “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” You don’t do this to trip us up, but instead, to strengthen us and to show how much You care for each of us. That is why You inspired Isaiah to write, in IS 41: 13, “I am the Lord, Your God; I strengthen you and tell you, ‘Do not be afraid; I will help you.’” One of the ways you do this is to teach us to be humble before You. Even in our marriages when You tell us, through Paul, in EPH 5: 21-25, to “submit yourselves to one another because of your reverence for Christ.” That is not all. You have told wives to submit to their husbands, and husbands to “love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it.” Our relationship with You is a supernatural bond that You forged between the believer, Yourself, and all other believers. This call to humility applies to single people as well. That bond is forged out of Your love for us and Your desire that we should be humble before You. In humility we acknowledge that we are sinners and express our heartfelt gratitude that Christ died for us, so that we could be saved. We praise You for Your love, worship and adore You because You deserve nothing less. We pledge You our diligence, trust, obedience, and loyalty. To You belongs all the glory and honor normally attributed to humans, and You have our hearts forever. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
In next week’s message, we will continue taking a close look at the Sermon on the Mount and who Christ tells us will inherit the Kingdom. If we were to speak to the members of any other belief system beside Judeo-Christianity, they could not report that their Deity (s) have any love for them. Nor could they say that their Deity reached out to his (their) enemies and offered them salvation from the misery of slavery to sin. These are only some of the things that single out the One True God from all other gods. We are a blessed people whose God wants nothing more that for us to endure in our faith, so He will have the chance to keep His promise of eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven for us. His love is so profound, that His greatest desire is to bring us back to Him and to shower us with His blessings. Bask in the warm glow of His love today and always. Peter and I send each of you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn