Humility Is the Missing Element.

There are two basic attitudes in life: arrogance and humility.  The former is self-centered {that’s just the nature of the beast}, the latter is Jesus-centered, Christ-consumed, you might say.  You and I approach life from one of these two perspectives every day.  We know which one the Scriptures enjoin.  In Psalm 138:6 David said, “Though the LORD is on high, He looks upon the lowly [‘the humble’], but the proud He knows from afar.”  See this?  There will never be closeness, camaraderie, companionship between the arrogant and Abba.  “Before her downfall a woman’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor” {Prov. 18:12}.

The missing element in the lives of so many of Abba’s post-modern Children is humility.  There’s an old saying, ‘Plan wisely, and hold the reins loosely.’  You know why?  Because God could change those plans at any given moment!  As long as we’ve got our plans all figured out, God withdraws His presence and therefore His power.  But the minute you cry out, “Have mercy on me, Lord; I need You desperately,” the minute you humble yourself He comes close, He draws near in your time of need.  What did James tell his hearers in 4:8?  “Come near to God and He will come near to you.”  This was a word used in the Original Testament for priests entering the Tabernacle and the Temple to offer sacrifices and to minister before the Lord; it means- ‘approach for worship.’  “This very moment, this very second, come near to the Holy One; and you will experience this deeply relational reality: He will most certainly come near to you!” {RRExp}.  Promise.

You want to make a fashion statement in the spiritual realm?  Here’s what ‘fashionable attire’ for a Follower of Jesus looks like.  “Therefore,” Paul wrote in Colossians 3:12, “as God’s chosen People, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  The Family of Faith upon whom grace will pour down like a River of Living Water is one which maintains a humble attitude before God and man, one which stays low and trusts in their Abba.  If you’re a leader, listen up.  Leaders who get this will never fail to find the Path of Life, as David said in Psalm 25:9, “He guides the humble in what it right and teaches them His way.”  The secret to receiving divine guidance is humility.

Didn’t Peter tell us in 1 Peter 5, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another”?  Why?  Because “God makes war on the proud but gives grace to the humble,” v. 5.  I don’t know about you, but I want to be on the “humble” side of this equation, on the “grace” end of this stick and not the other!  Rather than scrambling for prominence and position— just like the world— humble Disciples will serve one another in love.  And that’s a beautiful thing to be a part of.  Just so we understand each other: the Greek word tapeinos means- ‘in the dust, never rising far from the ground.’  It describes the Child of God who follows her Lord down the path of humility— which, ironically, is the only path to promotion in the Kingdom of Grace.

James say’s in 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord….”  The result?  “And He will lift you up,” He will exalt you.  And why would we “humble” ourselves before the Lord?  Didn’t Jesus teach His Apprentices, that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted” {Lk. 14:11}?  Indeed, He did.  “If you plan to build a tall house of virtues,” wrote the 4th century father Augustine, “you must first lay deep foundations of humility.”  A French archbishop {Francois Fenelon} from the 17th century said, “Nothing will make us so tender to the faults of others as, by self-examination, thoroughly to know our own.”  It’s been said, “Life is ten percent what happens to you, and ninety percent how you choose to respond to it.”  This, my friends, comes down to one thing— attitude.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
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