We are about to go deep, people.
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
-Micah 6:8
“Whatever the timing or form of God’s mercy, we never rise above the status of beneficiaries of mercy. We are always utterly dependent on the undeserved (mercy).
Therefore let us humble ourselves and rejoice and “glorify God for his mercy”!(Rom 15:9)”
-John Piper
“By asking for pleasure, he lost the chief pleasure; for the chief pleasure is surprise. Hence it became evident that if a man would make his world large, he must be always making himself small….It is impossible, without humility, to enjoy anything-even pride.”
-G.K. Chesterton
Humility is the subject today. And I’m guessing that if we ask ourselves questions in the mirror and answer with honesty that we are all guilty of pride in some way, shape, or form. I don’t really have to guess because it is simply the truth. We all suffer from pride. Read those 3 excerpts from above again. The connecting word is humility. It seems to me that the thing that one needs in order to find the peace we are all desiring, one must give up the illusion of one’s self being in control and humble one’s self. Before you can learn a thing, you have to admit that you don’t know anything about what you’re attempting to learn. That’s humility. Before taking directions, you must admit that you don’t know where you’re going. Humility. Before you can find the place in your heart to be open in order to receive and accept God’s mercy, His free gift of unconditional love and salvation, you must have humility and be humble. So, essentially it is kind of conditional. The one condition is that you must admit your powerlessness and your true need for saving. Your need of something greater than yourself because it is so ridiculously clear that you cannot manage this life with any kind of true peace or outward love of your fellow man, let alone yourself, without something giving you understanding of it all. Humility is the condition. Pride is the hardest thing to relinquish. For men it would appear to be the worst. We are prideful by virtue of the word “man”. I will tell you now that my personal experience, my story, my testimony, my Jesus saving me story, began the moment I humbled myself before The Lord. It began for me when I swallowed my pride and stepped out in faith to give up the lie that I could figure a way thru all that I had twisted up around me. My salvation was first realized when I found humility enough to be honest with the people I loved, the people in my life, with my family, friends, co-workers, myself, and with God. He already knows what I’ve done, but I had to realize that, admit and confess EVERYTHING, no matter how small I wanted to make it out to be, and humble myself before Him and everyone else, before I was able to receive what I call the most real picture and experience of unconditional love I’ve ever known in my life. I will never forget it. I literally saw a light. I did! It was real and it was shining down upon me with the hope of something, some peace, some truth, some way, that I could go that I truly and honestly didn’t think existed. But it did exist. It DOES exist. Don’t be afraid. Please trust me when I say this. Don’t be afraid to tell the truth, to humble yourself and to bring everything to the light. Admit that you need more than you can supply on your own in order to see the truth of our existence. Do it for real and you WILL experience God and His peace, love, and joy. All I can tell you is what I’ve seen, what I’ve heard, and what I have experienced.
“Humble yourselves before The Lord, and He will lift you up in honor.” -James 4:10
I pray each of you today will know Him. If you reach for a little piece, you will find a large piece available. He is in the business of giving exceedingly and abundantly. Go now and get you some of this day!