Home  Ministries Adult Men dc 05/12/08
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dc 05/12/08 |
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Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will
lift you up." James 4:10 nrsv
written by Nate Pruitt
Every time I think I have a handle on humility God comes along and
shows me how much deeper it can go and how stifling my pride is to
me. Humbling ourselves before God is such an difficult task
when we cling to the selfish desire driven mindset we try
to claim as our "natural" state of being. (And we've all
heard it, if not said it, too, "Well I'm only human," and we'll
just try to ignore the fact that the phrase usually comes as an
excuse for the grossly selfish and greedy acts.) This is not the
act of humility God cares to hear, and it certainly isn't the kind
he seeks to reward. In fact it is the opposite, it is pride
excusing itself.
To humble ourselves before the Lord is to start to grasp the
concept of grace (we aren't just saved by it, we live by it)
because our simply saying, "God you are far greater than me," tends
to only come as a surprise to us. God is well aware of his
sovereignty, although we can forget that we aren't remotely
sovereign. After all, we've controlled so many things to make life
how it is for us... right? Hmm. To be humble in our minds is to
know that God's grace provides the space for us to exist when we
cannot control such a thing. To be humble in our hearts is to lower
ourselves in reverence (which means to simultaneously lift God up
in a life of worship in this instance) and to let our hearts cry
out their natural song as creation before the Creator that
we long for and cherish the grace that makes each second and each
heartbeat available to us, and that we long to use them well. At
this point we are most prepared to be a blessing to God, and he
will bless us toward that worthy purpose!
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