Category Archives: humility

Feb 1 2012

A Chariot Ride Into Teachability

We live out our lives making decisions.  Many are like ‘forks’ in the road.  They are made and they shunt us in another direction.  Some are dramatic, we see very quickly that the road is going to take us in a radically different path.

Sometimes, if we’re honest, we will admit to backtracking, retracing our route back to the point we turned.  A lot of time it is too late, and the moment has past.

I think I have been learning to receive correction and rebuke from others.  I’m thinking of that Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:30-31,

“So when Philip ran toward the chariot, he heard the man reading from Isaiah the prophet. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

 31 He answered, “How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?” Then he invited Philip to climb in and sit with him.”

There is a humbleness, a teachableness that this eunuch possesses.  He is confident enough to acknowledge that he just doesn’t know.  He is so eager to be set on the right course that he invites Philip to a Bible study in the chariot.

We are responsible for our receptivity to truth.  It is our personal decision to either seek or not seek.  No one else can make this decision for us.  We come to a decision point and we go the way things seem to direct us.  And we learn; God and how we learn!

The book of Proverbs is saturated with ideas on being guided by our humility when it comes in contact with truth.  Furthermore, there are many warnings about receiving correction and reproof gracefully.  If we believe what we are reading, at that point all of a sudden our stubbornness and rejection become a very bad thing.

I have learned that scriptural truth is almost always negative when it is first encountered.  It will not sit well, and I will try to shake it off.  But truth can be remarkably persistent.  ‘Forgive your brother’, the Holy Spirit says.  And you say right away, ‘Not a chance!’  But give it time, and the Word will soften rock.  If you respond properly, humbly, you be able to make the right decision.

One more thing, Jesus told us in Matthew 18:3,

  ” I promise you this. If you don’t change and become like a child, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.”

There will need to be a complete alteration in our hearts if we are to accommodate this command.  Becoming a child is more difficult as adults as becoming an adult is for a child.  It takes a great amount of brokenness to make the transition.

God fully intends to work with you on this.  He doesn’t seem to ever give up.  He is wonderfully persistent, and for some reason, He loves you. LOL

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Dec 11 2011

Under the Table

But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

Matthew 15:27, NASB

This woman has a quick and nimble faith in Jesus.  She will not let go, and the attitude of Jesus only enhances her faith.  She was more then willing to be a dog, if that is what it took.  The children would be served first, and then she could go and get the crumbs.

What is it that you want?  What do you need?  The humility of this woman was impressive.  It was not easily offended or misdirected.  In her desperate need she has no where else to go, and so she lingers, and refuses to be patronized.  She wants the crumbs; the crumbs from His table are far better than the extravagant banquets and feasts of the richest nobleman.

“Not worthy, Lord, to gather up the crumbs
  With trembling hand that from thy table fall,
A weary, heavy laden sinner comes
  To plead thy promise and obey thy call.

“I am not worthy to be thought thy child,
  Nor sit the last and lowest at thy board;
Too long a wanderer, and too oft beguiled,
  I only ask one reconciling word.”

 We are not fed with crumbs, but directly from the table of our heavenly Father.  The Prodigal discovered that his Father was outrageous in His love.  An incredible feast was just a manifestation of that grace.  The feast declares the depth and width of His love.

You and I have become the honored guests.  We do not get crumbs, but we feast at the table with the finest food and wine.  Do we belong?  Only you can answer that.  But access is open to all who by faith receive Jesus as their Savior.  When we do that we get the invitation to the feast.

“Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith!  Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” 

Matthew 15:28

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Nov 14 2011

Counseling Others

by Bryan Lowe

In the last several months, I have grown very skeptical of my own ability to give out sound counsel.  For the most part I have refrained from doing so, and rather have attempted to introduce them to the wisdom and love of Jesus.  Its like a triangle; Jesus, them, and myself occupying each corner.  All I do when I counsel someone is to help them see the Lord.  Hopefully, once a dialogue has taken place I step back and let the supernatural happen.

Much of counseling is facilitating or creating an environment that you can gather information.  Your friend feels that you and your surroundings are “safe” and he/she opens up in that situation.  Almost all of the the time, a certain level of confidentiality must exist and be understood as being “in place”.

Reliance on the Spirit

Job and his Three Friends

Usually when I meet with someone, I do not attempt to sound profound, or wise.  Instead, I am wary of myself.  I think I’m like a flare shot up in the inky darkness, I  just want to give a few brief moments of illumination before the moment passes. But when God speaks he will enlighten fully and bring understanding. “In his light, we see light”, (Ps. 36:9).

Job’s friends were at their best when silently sitting with him in the ash and rubble.  They were very effective counselors.  The problem came when they began to verbally explain why this personal disaster took place.  Very often I find that people have a need to be needed.  They give counsel so they can feel good about themselves.  There is a lot of Christian counseling out there that carries this inherent flaw.

Part of speaking wisely to a friend must include the option that I might be totally off-the-wall.  Whatever I say must not be ”ex cathedra“, or as truth unchallenged.  Just because I’m giving you counsel does not make me superior or authoritative.  It should take as much humility to counsel as it takes to be counseled.  Mistakes will be made, but we should trust the Holy Spirit to use those missteps.

Peer-to-peer counseling is very much a blessing.  A great need exists in the church for this particular ministry.  But to be a source of wisdom to another should be both a sobering and clarifying experience.  We should beware of the pitfalls and wary of our flesh and its desire for greatness, glory and fame.  To be a counselor can be quite dangerous and I should not seek this place unless its thrust on me.

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Oct 27 2011

“To Sit and Wait”

“Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder.”   

Matthew 26:36, KJV

The Biblical "Rose of Sharon"

It is a hard thing to be kept in the background at a time of crisis. In the Garden of Gethsemane eight of the eleven disciples were left to do nothing. Jesus went to the front to pray; Peter, James and John went to the middle to watch; the rest sat down in the rear to wait. Methinks that party in the rear must have murmured. They were IN the garden, but that was all; they had no share in the cultivation of its flowers. It was a time of crisis, a time of storm and stress; and yet they were not suffered to work.

You and I have often felt that experience, that disappointment. There has arisen, mayhap ['perhaps'] a great opportunity for Christian service. Some are sent to the front; some are sent to the middle. But WE are made to lie down in the rear. Perhaps sickness has come; perhaps poverty has come; perhaps obloquy ['censure, blame'] has come; in any case we are hindered and we feel sore. We do not see why we should be excluded from a part in the Christian life. It seems like an unjust thing that, seeing we have been allowed to enter the garden, no path should be assigned to us there.

Be still, my soul, it is not as thou deemest! Thou art NOT excluded from a part of the Christian life. Thinkest thou that the garden of the Lord has only a place for those who walk and for those who stand! Nay, it has a spot consecrated to those who are compelled to SIT…….

When that experience comes to thee, remember, thou art not shunted. Remember it is CHRIST that say ‘Sit ye here.’ THY spot in the garden has ALSO been consecrated. It has a special name. It is not ‘the spot of wrestling,’ not ‘the place of watching’, but ‘the place of waiting.’

There are lives that come into this world neither to do great work, nor to bear great burdens, but simply to be; …….they are the flowers of the garden which have had no active mission. They have wreathed no chaplet; they have graced no table; they have gladdened the sight of JESUS. By their mere perfume, by their mere beauty, they have brought Him joy; by the very preservation of their loveliness in the valley they have lifted the Master’s heart. Thou needst not murmur shouldst thou be one of these flowers!”

*******

J. R. Miller (1840 – 1912) James Russell Miller was born on March 20, 1840 at Frankfort Springs, Pennsylvania and died on July 2, 1912. Besides authoring over 80 books, booklets, and pamphlets, Dr. J.R. Miller was the Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and a very active pastor in a succession of churches. He had a strong popularity among that generation of believers.

______________________

This was sent to me from a dear friend; she had taken it from a very old devotional, published in 1925.  However, the truths are not dated.  They speak to us, long after the writer has gone to heaven. B.L.

Oct 25 2011

A Slipping Down Life

There is no question that we each want a wonderful life.  Young and idealistic, we brew dreams that we will become persons of wonder and deep significance.  Anything less would be a denial of what we believe.  In our youthful zeal we more or less insist on our success.  We just know that we are God’s special gift to the world.

All of a sudden we strike reality’s iceburg.  It is very bitter, and it hurts us.  Then things unfold around us that are difficult and very challenging to process.  But as it sifts out we realize that we find we are severely mismatched by what we face.  It is at this point things proceed from difficult to ugly.

We discover that our life is “a slipping down” sort of kind.  Twenty years ago, we would never admit this.  But our vision and expectations have shrunken, and we have become less than we imagined than we would be.  We have slipped down.

Living this kind of life, inserts a humility in us.   We have aspired, but have not attained.  But if we are honest with ourselves (and others) we find ourselves, subtracted.  We wrestle with our angel, and he wipes us up. We discover that we now limp, and this is a necessary step for us to take.  Sometimes “Christlikeness” must be beaten into us.

Those among us who struggle so profoundly with pain and illness are expected to join with millions that have gone before us.  Loss and ugliness intervene in our lives.  Those of us who fight with a mental illness, (sometimes winning, and often losing) have to sift through all that remains.  But this injected humility, this experience, does teach us, like nothing else can.

“Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God, O do you learn.  C.S. Lewis

Personal brokenness requires that we pick-up the pieces.  And that in itself works something in us.  On our hands and knees we have an epiphany.  We are not what we thought we’d be.  But humility, the soil that grows our spirits, finally works in us.

A slipping-down life brings us to the bitter-sweet place where the Spirit can reach into us to do His work.  It is the “operating room” where He works deep inside us.  None will truly know the Lord’s touch without this deep work. I strongly encourage you to submit your hearts to His precise work.  You really don’t have a whole bunch of viable options.

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Oct 12 2011

Nothing But Leaves

“Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.”

Mark 11:13, NASB

Perplexing isn’t it?  I personally have lived with a certain amount of ambiguity with this passage.  I have questions that I’ve swept under the rug.  Why did that poor tree get cursed?  It wasn’t the trees fault, after all.  And didn’t Jesus realize this?  So why go through the theatrics?

I don’t know if this is the case with anyone else.  I hesitate to ask around.  But recently have come to a better place about this entire event.  The traditional view is that it comes immediately after “the cleansing of the temple” and that explains a lot.  The fig tree is always emblematic of Israel.  The Old Testament is well populated with these references.  Mark organized his account in order to connect both events.

Jesus has no issues or vendettas against trees.  But He does take an issue with things that claim fruit, but really have nothing.  There is nothing but leaves. I’ve been told that the figs do grow, almost as fast as leaves.  The lush greenness is the prime indicator of the succulent fruit. At least, it has the potential.

The beautiful leaves announces its fruitfulness.  This tree was loaded, but had nothing to show but leaves.  Within God’s plan for Israel was for fruit.  Enough to feed the nations that would stream to Jerusalem.  Instead, it was worthless.  There was nothing to be had.  Loads of leaves, and the promise of an incredible harvest, but zilch, zero, nothing.

Hypocrisy is a deadening experience, with a certain sterility in it.  Israel was finding this out, and Jesus is now declaring it to the nation.  A corrupt temple, and a fruitless tree; this were all indicators of hypocrisy and showiness.  The luxuriant leaves loaded the tree, but ‘where’s the fruit?!’

Sometimes we declare that we are fruitful, on basis of our leaves.  We can be a wonder, and make an exceptional statement.  But when He comes, and looks up at our limbs and out to our branches, will He find fruit, or just lots of green?  Leaves are pretty much all we can do.  And we do it quite well.

Israel failed God.  They became religious and neglected mercy, and justice.  Humility and graciousness.  The widow and the orphan were not part of their personal equation.  They produced leaves by the wheelbarrow load, but were missing out on the authenticity to what was true, and what really mattered.  Pharisees will do this, and they turn into hypocrites who do not possess what they profess. A hypocrite values true godliness, but he personally falls short of all those things he admires. But he will never, ever admit it to anyone.  And even we who struggle so, must continually admit that we stumble and falter as we try to follow.  I may be a ‘screwy’ excuse of being a disciple, but I have decided I will not deceive people.  God, help me.

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