Hope for Humility

“I am the most humble person you will ever meet!” 

This is a funny statement to hear and one used as a joke in many instances. Humility is a great struggle for most of us. We are told in abundance that the most important thing for you to worry about is: you. Self centeredness is rampant all around us and maybe in our own life because the popular belief is to do all things for yourself.  Building up of yourself takes priority over building up others.  So what has the greatest value, to seek after anything that will build up yourself or is it humility and investing in others. Humility has great value in that it is essentially the removal of selfish ambition, which can leave the room necessary for doing something for others. To be caught up in the pursuit of selfish gain will build up your life in some ways, but will often come with great harm done in the life of someone else. Should I tear down others for a temporary personal satisfaction of my own selfish desires? The most memorable people are usually those that try to serve others without expecting anything in return. With humility in action, one is remembered because of the service they provided in building the other up. So it is the resistance of trying to be remembered that leads to being remembered. In order to be motivated for this type of attitude, and making it your lifestyle, you must draw from something that is above you and everything else. In Scripture, the book of Romans, we see a statement of the ultimate sacrifice that has lead to the possibility of salvation for all. “-but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) So it is love for the world that lead the Creator God to provide a way for the world to have eternal life through the ultimate sacrifice. (John 3:16) For those that believe in the sacrifice of Christ, sacrifice for others becomes much easier. This is because of the influence of Christ in all areas of life for a believer. Those that trust in Jesus as the sacrifice for theirs sins learn from His words and deeds. Selfish ambition becomes clear for what it is, an empty endeavor. Because of the certainty of hope, that is eternal life in the presence of God the Father through Jesus the Son, we are enabled with the desire for a humble, fulfilled life in Christ serving others. A lowly and humble life that serves the needs of others, with the love of Christ. That is a valuable life, a life with eternal value. A challenge perhaps, but a worthy endeavor.

Being Immovable

All believers seek to be firm in their faith and trust in Jesus. As we navigate through life circumstances and people it makes it more and more difficult to stay focused on our faith. To maintain trust, one asset is an orderly life. Being organized has great value in life and work, but also for faith. This is somewhat of a struggle personally but is a great aspiration. When routines and disciplines of faith are built into your life, you are able to be in a constant state of preparation to live out your faith.(Philippians 2:12) Its all about having perspective when challenged and being prepared through a disciplined life keeps it unwavering.  The right perspective is in light of eternity. We see life events and decisions and circumstances all with the thought of Christ. Thinking of Christ leads us to the knowledge of eternity with the Father as Christ has brought us to Him with a restored relationship. By being disciplined I pray we are motived by the love of Christ, because of the love He has for us, to be immovable!

Godly Intentions

This is the key to a life of bringing glory to the Lord. We must make every request and decision with godly intentions. In prayer, we present many needs before our Lord that we have full confidence He can answer. This is why we bring those requests to Him. But the answer is not guaranteed and certainly God is not bound by anything to answer our prayers. Prayers that are answered are prayed according to the Will of God and have His character in mind. God is able but He also has a plan for His creation. For Him to answer a request from His creation that contradicts His plan and standards would be absurd. To have godly intentions with our prayers and actions is to have a like desire for the plans of God to prevail over anything else. This brings glory to God. When our desires match up with the desires of the God of creation, we most certainly will find answers. These answers  may or may not be what we expected, but they will be the right answers. May all that we do and ask be in accordance with the Will and character of God.

Don’t Settle

When pondering the effectiveness of your walk with the Lord or your fulfillment of God’s Call in your life one must start with whether or not you are settling. As we seek the Lord we are trying to be obedient out of love and passion in response to the grace of God revealed in our lives. We want to respond to Him with love and be active in showing it. One must look at the extent of love to see how much or less they are settling in their service to God. It all comes down to your love driving and motivating your thoughts and actions to glorify the Lord most effectively. The attitude of “the best for God” must be prominent over just being “good enough.” I believe this is important because it reflects the level in intimacy with God that we should desire in Christ. So whatever we do we must do for the glory of the Lord! (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Thou has made us for Thyself

To find our purpose and identity in being the created by the great Creator is the key to life In Christ. As believers in life each day we are to promote and fulfill our purpose in Christ out of being motivated by love for our Savior. By knowing and understanding the reason for being created on can cherish and rejoice in the Creator. This is a true reason for celebration in the life of a believer.

Psalm 18:31-32- The Great Supplier

Trusting in the Lord as your supplier of all your needs is much easier said than done. The focus of this type of trust must not be completely on yourself and the present circumstance. Having the proper understanding of who God is will ultimately lead you to a type of trust that will supply you with strength and endurance in life. Strength during hardship may be an opportunity to draw close to the Lord in order to remain blameless in times like these. (James 4:8) In this passage the Psalmist is acknowledging the ability and authority of God to be the solution to all of life’s circumstance. God as a rock reminds us of the strength and stability that makes up the nature of God. In no other can we find the supplier of all our needs!

The Impact of “None is Righteous”

In the book of Romans chapter 3 verses 10 and 11, we see a clear statement on the depravity of man. The very fact that there is no man on the face of the Earth that can claim he is righteous apart from God has some implications. Let’s look at two that are automatic when thinking of this truth. First, this shows the starting point in which everyone views the world around them. Each person sees the issues of the world through the lens of lostness. This is to mean from the view point of separated from God. One cannot understand and glorify the Lord apart from the knowledge of who God is and what His standards are. Man in the beginning is apart from God with no ability to comprehend what is truly righteous. This leads to the burden of those that are redeemed by the blood of Jesus. The second implication from this passage is the urgency and need to reveal the source of righteousness. Through our actions and verbal witness of the redeemer that shows true righteousness, the world will only then know the one true God. 

This passage penetrates to the heart the need for an effective life in showing the world the truth of salvation through Jesus. We must find urgency in proclaiming the cure for sin that we have found and others are still looking for. May we see this truth as a reminder of where we came from before we found the source of righteousness. There must be a word spoken that leads individuals to where we are now, we who are children of God! (Romans 10:14)