Humility-After Thoughts
I was thinking all day yesterday about what I posted. As I was talking to a friend at work about it, I felt like God impressed me with this:
"Don't rob people of their opportunity to be humble. Your motivation to defend people is really in a way for you to respond to how you would have liked to respond when you were in the same situation. This does two things. First, it justifies your actions to wrong someone and reveals the current state of your heart. Second, you rob people of their chance to be humble because if they aren't allowed to do what you won't do, it relieves some of your own guilt."
While I had to agree with what I was being told, I thought "but what about the people I care about? Sure my motivation isn’t always pure, but sometimes I really do want to defend those that I love and care about like my parents, brothers, and family."
I was once again reminded that the Father stood by while his Son was lied about, manipulated, abused, and killed.
While that's all very heavy, don't let it be. It's not meant to be that way. This latest side road of humbleness is a very gentle one. I challenge you to have a conversation with God about this and see how He responds. A humble God will not respond with over lording and anger of what is or isn't being done. It's His kindness that leads us to repentance.
The virtue of humbleness takes great effort and energy to maintain and requires a denial of self that people rarely understand or want to sacrifice. God isn't asking everyone around you to be humble. He's asking you to be humble. Your humbleness isn't contingent on other people's reactions. When people see that you are a servant in every situation, they are going to abuse you and use you, but that is part of the deal when you choose to walk this path. It will happen. Over and over again.
In light of Jesus can we do anything less? When we choose to wear the cloak of servants, we begin to understand what it means to live and have our being in Him. Not that we depend on Him for everything, but that we do not depend on anyone else for anything. The reward is a happiness and joy that is beyond compare.
"Don't rob people of their opportunity to be humble. Your motivation to defend people is really in a way for you to respond to how you would have liked to respond when you were in the same situation. This does two things. First, it justifies your actions to wrong someone and reveals the current state of your heart. Second, you rob people of their chance to be humble because if they aren't allowed to do what you won't do, it relieves some of your own guilt."
While I had to agree with what I was being told, I thought "but what about the people I care about? Sure my motivation isn’t always pure, but sometimes I really do want to defend those that I love and care about like my parents, brothers, and family."
I was once again reminded that the Father stood by while his Son was lied about, manipulated, abused, and killed.
While that's all very heavy, don't let it be. It's not meant to be that way. This latest side road of humbleness is a very gentle one. I challenge you to have a conversation with God about this and see how He responds. A humble God will not respond with over lording and anger of what is or isn't being done. It's His kindness that leads us to repentance.
The virtue of humbleness takes great effort and energy to maintain and requires a denial of self that people rarely understand or want to sacrifice. God isn't asking everyone around you to be humble. He's asking you to be humble. Your humbleness isn't contingent on other people's reactions. When people see that you are a servant in every situation, they are going to abuse you and use you, but that is part of the deal when you choose to walk this path. It will happen. Over and over again.
In light of Jesus can we do anything less? When we choose to wear the cloak of servants, we begin to understand what it means to live and have our being in Him. Not that we depend on Him for everything, but that we do not depend on anyone else for anything. The reward is a happiness and joy that is beyond compare.
posted by John | 11:04 AM
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