The Fundamental Blog

In the regal kingdom of the oxymoron, this may be the glorified crown. Doesn’t it seem painfully obvious, that to claim the attainment of humility with the pride of accomplishment, is to negate the claim? To stand upon the mountain and, with raised fist proclaim, “I have mastered humility,” is absurd. It is a human impossibility to be proud of your own humble nature. The Biblical statement, “With man this this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” while being lifted out of context, could aptly apply here.

When we think of humility we can easily mistake this quality as being synonymous with being a milquetoast. Humility does not mean timidity. 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self discipline.” The Godly person is given this spirit at the point of their conversion. When we accept Christ our old self dies and we become new. It is easy to find that our dying pride is trying to run wild with the characteristics of this new spirit. The power, which is Christ working in us by His Holy Spirit, stands along side the remnants of our old dying nature and the pride that is crumbling away tries to latch on to this power to remain alive within us. But this is a human failing. True humility is such that only God can rightly proclaim it as a attribute of Himself.

God can say, “I am humble,” and have it be true, but if any mortal were to say this of themselves, it could only be pride speaking. In Numbers 12, we learn that Moses was, “… more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” This seems like a very prideful boast, and it would be if Moses had said it about himself, but he didn’t. This statement concerning Moses was given to us by God Himself. I can’t help but wonder that Moses, being the scribe of this book, must have felt a little uncomfortable writing these words about himself. I can almost see him cocking his head, just a bit, and thinking, “Me? Really? Well, OK, you‘re God, you oughta know!”

The other proclamation of self-humility that comes to mind was made by the Lord Jesus Christ; Matthew 11:29, “… for I am gentle and humble of heart.” Since Jesus is the incarnate God, He can get away with this sort of thing. God, who is perfect in all things, is the only one who can rightfully self-proclaim a perfect humility. While humility is, in part, holding ourselves no higher than others, I believe that we ought to see humility, Godly humility, in a slightly different light. We need to begin by trying to determine what is meant in the Bible by the use of the word humility. Is it the same as our common usage?

Yes, and no. Yes, we are to submit ourselves to the rule of our rightful master and the governing authorities; No, we can not allow ourselves to be walked upon by those who are in no position to control their own lives, much less ours. What I’m saying is simply this; We can be rightfully humble in following the dictates of the civil laws of society but we must draw a line at falsifying reports in favor of an un-Godly employer. As we read and incorporate the Word of God into our lives, these are instructions we are to follow, but when presented with the prospect of violating what God has shown us to be acceptable behavior, we must stand on God’s moral base. The Biblical use of, “humble,” is more on the order of being obedient, and not as much on the order of timid submissiveness.

In Philippians 2:8 we see that the life of Christ Jesus was one of true humility in that, “… He humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!” The Christ of God, very God Himself, is so far above the power of death that to submit to it in obedience is true humility. Yet, Jesus was not timid or demure when He drove the money changers and merchants from the temple, neither was Moses concerned about preserving a human concept of humility when he broke the stone tablets and chastened Aaron for allowing Israel to worship a golden calf! To act in righteousness as a result of the dictates of the revealed Word of God is not a violation of humility it is the obligation of the humble.

When Moses faced Pharaoh with God’s command to let His people go, he was either the most arrogant and foolhardy of men, or the most humble and obedient of servants. Pharaoh surely saw him as a fool to come before him making demands in the name of his God and performing magic tricks with his staff. How could anyone in their right mind confront the, (arguably), most powerful ruler on earth and think he could demand anything? Moses knew something that it took Pharaoh a long time to figure out; that God is to be feared far more than any ruler of the earth. Moses may have been bold and unyielding before the throne of Egypt but he was the most humble of messengers before the throne of God.

Moses may not have appeared to humble himself before man, but he was the model of humility through obedience before God. Aaron, Miriam and even Korah murmured against Moses in their own petty jealousies somehow thinking that Moses was putting himself above them when, in fact, he was burdened before men in the carrying out of the instructions of God. He led Israel through the desert wandering from place to place in a way that probably made many think he was lost, following a silly old cloud, and there were some who must have thought that their fate would have been better trusted to someone else. Some may have wanted to see a woman at the front of the procession; after all, if they were lost, she would have at least asked for directions, right?

Often times God uses the exact opposite of who you might think He would select to accomplish His goals. This is largely due to showing that the completion of an act, whatever it might be, is the result of the workings of God and done through the hands of man. Gideon, Sampson, David and many others were the least of men used to do the most unimaginable feats at the command of God. While God may choose to use the least in order to accomplish the most, at other times, He uses the greatest to accomplish a small task. It is an easy thing to die, anyone can do it and one day we will all be called to lay this body down, but who does He use to die for the sake of man? He did it himself! How awesome a feat that God should die on our behalf, the God who controls the very reigns of creation. But regardless of whether it is the greatest being doing the simple, or the simple being used to do the greatest; there is no distinction between the obedience needed to carry out the dictates of God. It is obedience that is used to measure humility.

Perfect humility is Jesus hanging in agony on a Roman cross when, at a word, He could have come down, walked away and spent the afternoon fishing. It was the will of the Father that put Jesus on that cross for us and it was the obedience of Christ that kept Him there in unimaginable pain and humiliation unto His physical death. He did it for us. He did it for me. He did it for you. Without the obedience of the Son, we were lost forever with no hope of salvation; with the obedient humility of Christ Jesus, we have been given that hope; still, so many refuse to accept the grace in that offering.

It is not our charge to be walked upon by the world for the sake of Christ, but to be obedient to the Word. I wish I could make a case that proved that it is somehow easier to be obedient to God than it is to carry on the earthly, mortal concept of humility, but it is not. We consistently fail at both. It is no easier to do what we should do than it is to not do the things we should avoid. But we have this model to strive for, a pattern to try to follow, a goal that although seemingly out of our grasp, should never be allowed to thwart the intent of our reach. We, as humans, may never be able to kill the prideful desires of our wicked hearts, but neither can we allow them to chart our courses. We may never be able to be truly holy, but neither can we allow ourselves to discard the desire to be so. We may never be able to embody the perfection of humility, but neither can we allow ourselves to rest on our laurels thinking that mediocrity is a viable substitute.

We can not ever allow our pride to make us think that we deserve the blessings of God. Salvation is the gift of grace by faith in Christ Jesus and not because we deserve it, I can not bear to think of the consequences if we were to receive the justice that we deserve, but by the grace of God we can thank Him for the mercy which has brought us to Jesus. Knowing who our master is, the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be humble in service to our King and still stand firm in the righteousness of our Saviour. Let the world see our kneeling before the throne of God, let them wonder at the works that God accomplishes through us knowing that it is by our fruit that we are recognized. Let them wonder at a life being lived….


All for the Glory of Christ

As surely as the days are shortening, and the threat of winter weather is coming closer, so too are we nearing Thanksgiving. This American holiday is intended to remind us of those early pilgrim settlers who endured severe hardship as they forged our fledgling nation; we are to remember that they, themselves, offered thanks for the gift of sustenance and survival. But more than that, we need to think of the One to whom that thanks was offered, and to whom our thanks is owed, the One to whom we owe our food, shelter, clothing, even our very next breath.

But is this really what we are thankful for? As the world rushes toward the end times, and things get progressively less God centered, where do our loyalties lie? Sure, we are thankful that Uncle Fred and cousin Larry don’t live any closer than they do, and that they can’t stay too long, (remembering last year when they got drunk and shaved the cat), but aren’t some of us strategic thanks givers. The goal being to stuff hubby so full that he will sleep straight through Black Friday, and won’t miss the credit cards while we’re at the mall. What says, “Thanksgiving,” as much as a good Pre-Christmas sale? It is as though Thanksgiving Day is only a countdown to getting on with something else, and the meaning of the moment is entirely overlooked.

Please don’t get me wrong, there are many exceptional family memories made by the traditions that families keep. If you shop on Friday, that’s fine, but hopefully you know that there is a lot more to the weekend than base commercialism. Thanksgiving is, to me, the most important of American family holidays. I know that a lot of you would favor Christmas or Easter as your top pick but since we are not commanded to keep any of the holidays we typically observe, this is one time that we can use the lens of familiar emotion to measure the day. Thanksgiving is the one holiday that is centered around the blessing of family and God’s provision in our life, and a holiday that plays hard on the strings of our hearts with the Norman Rockwell-ian images of nostalgia.

Easter is great, but it has turned into a fashion show accessorized with the misplaced chocolate smudge, and afternoons of egg salad. Everyone gets all dressed up in their finest to impress the folks at church … ahem… I mean … to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Christmas is wonderful but, if you look carefully, you may discover that there are no birthday celebrations recorded in the Bible, and besides; Christmas has evolved into little more than materialistic secularism trying to find a way to advertise immediately after the 4th of July. While the birth and resurrection of Christ are, without question, tremendous miracles; it was the death of Christ on the cross at Calvary that took away the sin of the world. But I digress… My point is that we can look at Thanksgiving a bit differently than the other holiday heavy hitters.

Thanks - When is it appropriate to offer thanks? If you buy something, then you deserve the thing you purchased as fair exchange for your payment. If you labor for a thing, like a wage, then you are owed your compensation. Only in the case of a gift, something given to you that you have no right to expect, is thanks the appropriate response. When sister Sally gives us a present, the least we can do to thank her, but the thanks should not end there. Even though the gift came from another person we need to realize that it is God who softened that heart to give. It is our Heavenly Father that motivates us toward any benevolent enterprise, it is only God that allows us to love or care for one another.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father…” James 1:17. We have all received gifts that we would have esteemed somewhat less that perfect, or barely even good, but the adage remains that it isn’t the gift, it’s the thought that counts. The gift may have come from the second-hand store, but the thought came from God, and that IS what counts. It is said that there is nothing needed which is withheld and nothing given which is not needed. For all things we are to express our sincere gratitude, both to the one through whom God delivers the gift, as well as to God who gives the gift in the first place.

Paul writes, in Ephesians 5:12, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” So lets unpack this. “Giving thanks always…” To appreciate, and express the appreciation, that something has come into our life by the divine providence of God is the least we should attempt to acknowledge. We owe God our praise and adoration for fulfilling needs that we may not even have realized existed before. Have you ever received something and after a while said to yourself, “How did I ever get along without this?” God knew that you needed it. And all the things we receive are like that, whether or not we see it at the time. “… for all things …” Some of the things we receive are enjoyable while some others might not be. Still, it says, “all things,” and so we must learn to see that even the hardships are for our benefit. The word, “all,” is vital! Romans 8:28, “And we know that ALL things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” All things, even those that we might not find so pleasant, are working toward our good, if we love God.

“… unto God and the Father …” This just makes sense; we have already seen that all good and perfect things are from God, so who else should get the thanks and praise but God? “… in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Without the intercession of Jesus on our behalf, none of us could send a simple prayer into the throne room of God. Christ is the sole intercessor between God and man so all prayer and praise must be presented to God in the name of Jesus. Jesus tells us in John 14:14, “If ye shall ask anything in my name…”

There can be no substitute for the thanks offered to the Father in the name of the Son. As you sit around the table and reel in the moment of love and warmth, swoon in the swirling aromas of apples, clove, nutmeg, turkey and ham and the obligatory pumpkin pie; think of where each of these gifts came from. As you look around the room at the family God has given you; as you marvel that He has allowed some of them to travel great distances to share this day and delivered them safely to you, recognize that you are truly blessed in this life. There are many who will not be able to be with their families because of military service, illness, or a variety of other reasons; some will not have enough to eat or a warm place to stay. Think about these people and pray for them. Realize that, “…there, but for the grace of God, am I…” Teach your children that thankfulness is a debt owed daily to God for all he does to sustain us in all our trials as well as in our plenty.

In the 70’s, Joni Mitchell wrote, “Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” She might have been on to something there, it does seem to go that way, but it doesn’t have to. We need to wake up and see the daily miracles around us. We need to see the providence of God in our lives and revel in it. We need to get our heads right so that we see the gifts raining down from above. We need to think about the salvation that is ours because of the gift of Christ that God gave into the world to save us from our sin. We need to have our children, and the whole world, see us bow in a prayer of genuine thanksgiving. Nothing pleases God like the heartfelt prayer that comes to Him from His children as they strive to set an example of a simple thing done …



All for the Glory of Christ