Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Gentle and Humble ...a Sacrifice for all


I think Lori hit on a Key point with her response to my last post. Why is it that Hundreds of Thousands of people will follow the advice of a TV personality ? How is it that Television and movies seem to have so much impact on what we think and do. And Conversely why do so few people pay attention to what their Christian Neighbors , Family and Friends have to say.

Maybe we should be asking ourselves ( including myself ) what do we say ? and perhaps more important just how do we act ?

Do we act like non Christians , do we speak like non Christians ? This is a question I have started asking myself and looking at my personal walk . I am afraid I am part of the problem. I started by asking myself Just how should we act ... If we are being as the Bible says transformed in the image of Christ just what does that image look like ?

IN the Bible Jesus uses just two words to describe His personality. " I am gentle and humble in heart " . That's a good place to start.

Humble and Gentle.

Websters Dictionary Defines humble as:
Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin humilis low, humble, from humus earth; akin to Greek chthōn earth, chamai on the ground
Date:
13th century
1: not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive2: reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission 3 a: ranking low in a hierarchy or scale : insignificant, unpretentious
Consider that this is How the Son of the most High God described Himself. If anyone would have the right to be arrogant , the right to be assertive it would be the Son of God , and yet He says just the opposite . We claim to be proud after a hard days work making oyster crackers , Gods days work included the cosmos , the oceans and the bountiful life that covers the earth. I am part of Gods days work , and yet I brag over a reasonable picture of a Sunset.

Jesus was saying he was humble to us ,His people and as His people our goal is to be Christlike.

I suspect there are very few of us who would claim to be humble , humility is not a word we would readily use to describe our selves or our culture .

Just a drive down the road will revel the worlds best hamburger ( at five different locations ) the fastest car , the best phone service , the best football team, the greatest nation on the earth. This is not only the way the world acts but its the way we act as well ,,,the greatest church , the largest congregation, the best sermon. As a Churched group we routinely compare our little Worship place with others and the others usually come up short.

What would a picture of a humble Christian look like ? How do we start to learn to be humble , and why is it necessary for us to be humble ?

I think a starting place would be scriptural as well , an understanding of Servant hood. Servant hood is very closely aligned with very nature of love. After all can't we define true love as a condition when someone Else's needs become more important than your own ?

Now there is a topic ...For it seems that for most Love has now been redefined as What must I do to satisfy myself ? Its all about me , me first , my needs first , its my body. These all come from the same common root , its difficult to criticise the person choosing to abort when we are ourselves placing our needs first and the needs of others in the distant background.

Servant hood means doing for others with no anticipation or desire for reward for ourselves. There is alot to be said on this and the hour is late ... I am going to end tonight by challenging myself and any who are interested in taking a small baby step ... each day I wish to provide without benefit to myself a random act of kindness to another ...since reporting this would in a sense be a benefit I also choose to simply do it and not then seek praise for reporting it ...

Kenn

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