WATCHWORD:
4-6 You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.” James 4:6
26-28 You stick by people who stick with you, you’re straight with people who’re straight with you, You’re good to good people, you shrewdly work around the bad ones. You take the side of the down-and-out, but the stuck-up you take down a peg. 2 Samuel 22:26-28
The payoff for meekness and Fear-of-God is plenty and honor and a satisfying life. Proverb 22:4
Meditation:
Humility? Who Needs It?
In the absence of humility, do we forfeit our blessings? Re-read the passages above. What do they tell you?
Here is The Message version of Philippians 2:5-9. It’s a story of humility and it’s a True Story. Read it carefully, the Apostle Paul is speaking to us:
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!
Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
Now, what about that question — Humility, who needs it? We do, you and me. Humility and obedience will take courage, inner strength. The Lord laid out the plan for us in His commands. They are clear and quite understandable. His Covenants are unbreakable. What He promises, He does.
Yet, we deny Him. We have a chunk of Peter in our soul, and it is hard to always follow Him. Why are we not obedient? If it is messy…I don’t want to touch it. Yuck! Tithe? Before taxes or after taxes? After I pay my bills and feed my family? How do I cut that into smaller pieces? Change my schedule to get it done? Probably not. Buy food for those people? With MY money? Come on!
What does all that sound like to you? I think it sounds just like the forfeiting of blessings. The turning our backs on God. Think Hebrews in the desert, three days after the miracle. What miracle, they may ask? Any of them! The escape from Egypt. Water in the wilderness. Manna from Heaven. Three days later, the murmuring begins and they are ready to build an idol.
How different is that from us? Check your wealth. Check your privilege. Check your over-abundance. Check your cup. Oh, something clicks…what is it? Yes, The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. That’s true, I lack nothing, but it’s mine, all mine! Why do I have to spend some of it on them?
And our Jesus, the Christ, speaks to us: “Child, I prepare a table filled with good things for you. I anoint your head with oil to show you are my child. I fill your cup so full that it overflows. My goodness and My Love, My Child, will follow you until you join me here in My House, to stay for eternity. I ask so little of you, simply to love others as I love you. That is what I require. Now, go and do likewise, My Child.”
Together, Let’s Say:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
