God Honors Humility

 [God] says, "I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free...Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country." (There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the Lord drove out before Israel.)

When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.”

1 Kings 21:21, 24-29

For anyone who has read the Bible Ahab's name is synonymous with idol worship, murder, and wickedness. Very few men in Scripture are treated with as much contempt as he is. Yet, these few verses aren't really about Ahab's wickedness but about His repentance and God's mercy. 

According to verse twenty-five Ahab had maxed out his sin before God. It says, "there was never anyone like Ahab" in regard to his sin. And yet, when Ahab finally found fear of the Lord, when he became convinced that judgment was coming; he repented from his heart. Ahab, the great king of Israel, took off his royal robes and put on sackcloth. He gave up his kingly feasts and fasted before the Lord. This wasn't done privately but publicly. Ahab publicly repented of his sin before God.

Perhaps, even more surprising than Ahab's abrupt about-face is that a holy and righteous God would relent and show a measure of mercy to him. Here's a man who had dedicated himself to wickedness for decades. Yet, when he humbles himself before the Lord, God still chooses to honor his humility and repentance. As James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

No matter how bad your sin, God honors humility and true repentance. Conversely, no matter how good you are, arrogance and a self-righteous attitude will incur God's wrath. So humble yourself. Stop and consider the sin you're ignoring in your life and repent from your heart. God will honor it.

From So Very Right to So Very Wrong

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven...

Matthew 16:15-17

In Matthew 16, Jesus asked His disciples who they thought He was. Peter, ever the spokesman of the group, boldly proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah. This was a big step of faith for Peter. It seems to me that the disciples all hoped Jesus was the Messiah. They may have even believed that He might be the Messiah. But they seldom said it out loud. So, even though it may seem obvious to us now, at the time I believe Peter was taking a big step of faith to so boldly declare that Jesus was the Messiah. And Jesus responds to Peter's faith the way He always responds to faith, He blesses and affirms it. 

But what I find interesting is that so very soon after Peter got it right he managed to get it really wrong. In verse 21 of the same chapter, we read that Jesus began explaining to His disciples that He would be rejected by the chief priests and would be killed and would rise on the third day. But Peter cannot imagine that the Messiah will suffer, so in verse twenty-two Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes Him saying, "Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” Continuing in verse 23 "Jesus turned and said...to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.'”

Peter went from bold faith to opposing God's plan in record time. This is instructive for us. If Peter can go from being so very right to being so very wrong in such a short span of time, then so can we. We must be careful!

If you are reading this, then chances are that you have spent a considerable amount of time in church. You probably think you are getting quite a bit about your faith right... and you very well may be. But don't think for a second that you can't be wrong. Don't think for a second that you can't fail spectacularly. 

We need to understand that we can be very right about a lot of things in the faith, and still be terribly wrong about others. We see examples of this every time a pastor of note falls into doctrinal or moral error. They had so much right that we thought it couldn't happen to them. But it did. And it can happen to you as well. So be humble. Guard against thinking that you have everything figured out. Don't you dare believe you can't fall. Make time to sit at the feet of Jesus and His Word every day. And as you do, submit yourself to God's truth letting it guide you and keep you on the right path.

I Know Better

And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest...” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

Mark 1:42-45

Anytime I would go to visit my grandparents as a teen I would work with my grandfather. He drove a tractor and bush hogged for a living. If you don't know what that is, imagine mowing a large area with a tractor. One of his contracts was to bush hog the small county airport. Just before he set me loose on that tractor, he warned me not to mow too close to the runway lights, that it was easy to hit them. I listened, but I was fairly sure I could do it without any. As I mowed for the next hour I started getting closer and closer to those lights, taking particular pride in being able to get right up close to them without hitting any... right up until I did hit one. I cracked the post. The light hung limply with its head on the ground. I felt awful! What's worse is I had to tell my grandfather. He said that he knew I was going to hit at least one, and that he had hit plenty himself. He was hoping I would learn from his mistakes.  

Somehow, in my sinful pride, I thought I knew better than him. Someone who did this for a living, who had mowed this very airport many times before gave me sound advice, but I thought I knew better. So, I ignored him. I can't help but wonder how often we do the very same with God.  

In the passage above, Jesus heals a man of leprosy and sternly warns him not to tell anyone. That seems odd doesn't it? Why wouldn't Jesus want this man to share his testimony? Maybe this man thought Jesus was just being humble. We don't know. What we do know is that this man clearly thought he knew better than Jesus, because he spread the news around to everyone who would listen. 

"So what!" You might say. "His heart was in the right place. What harm was done?" The passage tells us exactly what harm was done by this man's disobedience. Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. He had to stay outside in desolate places. This one man's disobedience, even if well-intentioned, significantly impacted Jesus' life for the worse. He couldn't go into town to get food or to find a home to lodge in. If He did, the crowds would throng him. It must have been like the ancient equivalent of being followed by paparazzi and by crowds of adoring fans who all want something from you. So, Jesus had to stay outside, in desolate places. The disciples had to get his food and bring it back to him. He had to sleep out in the open air much more often now. All thanks to this one man's well-intentioned disobedience.

Be careful that you don't fall into the trap of thinking you know better than God. Even if God's commands don't make sense to you, obey Him anyway! He doesn't have to tell us His reasons. His purposes don't have to make sense to us. Our job is to simply obey. I mean do we really think we know better than God? Sadly, all too often, the answer in my own life has been yes. Learn from my mistakes.

My Pastor Can Beat up Your Pastor (W.o.W. Rewind)

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?

I Corinthians 1:10-13

“My dad can beat up your dad!” 

“Nuh-uh! My dad could totally beat up your dad!!!”

It wasn’t uncommon to hear exchanges like this on the playground when I was a kid. In fact, I remember taking part in arguments just like this myself. It’s funny how we can take something as wonderful as being proud of our dad and turn it into a competition that leads to division and conflict. But the Bible tells us that this can happen in our churches just as easily. Christians can associate so closely with different pastors or Christian personalities that they begin to identify with them more than with Christ Himself. Many of you have heard people say, “I go to pastor So-and-So’s church.” We love to namedrop don’t we? Like it somehow makes us more important because our preacher published a book! Have you ever noticed how many people leave a church when the pastor changes? 

In 1 Corinthians, Paul warns the church about this danger and reminds us that our worth as believers is founded on who Christ is, not on who our pastor is. In this way all believers are on equal footing. We are all in Christ and therefore all one in Him. There is no need for division or conflict over these other admirable men in the church. They're nothing more than Christ’s servants. Christ is what counts, and nothing else. 

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. (I Cor. 3:5-8)

Paul drives his point home in verses 21-23: "So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God." Quit boasting about men! I might add to quit boasting about numbers and buildings and programs and budgets. These things are not the end goal of the kingdom! When we boast in these things we're like a farmer boasting that he has the most beautiful tiller in the county. The goal isn't to have the most beautiful tiller! The goal is a fruitful harvest. We should be boasting in God and in Him alone, not in our pastor and not in our accomplishments as a church. Boast in the Lord and what He is accomplishing in the lives of the people in your church and in your own heart! Christ is our joy. He is our all in all, and He is our greatest boast. 

So be careful not to get caught up in conflict over Christian personalities. Be careful not to take pride in things that matter a lot in your church but not at all in the kingdom. Instead, stay close to Christ and remind yourself daily that nothing compares to this precious truth: Christ loved you and died for you so that you might be adopted as God’s own child. May we be so dumbfounded by this truth that no other boast ever crosses our lips again.

For further reading...

• Read I Corinthians 1-4:7

Beware of Blessing

When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.

Hosea 13:6

Are you blessed? Chances are that you're reading this off a phone or computer screen somewhere and that you are in fact very blessed. And that means you are in danger. That's right. There is a danger in being blessed. The human heart is so deceitfully wicked and the great Adversary against whom we struggle is so deviously clever, that even God's gifts to us can be used to turn us away from Him. According to Hosea 13:6 this is how it happens.

Step 1: God blesses us with every good thing. We are full, satisfied, our "cup runneth over." We grow rich and fat.

Step 2: Our satisfaction sours and turns to pride. As Satan whispers praise in our ear, we begin to credit ourselves with the abundance we enjoy. What a clever enemy we fight that he could tempt us to turn our backs on God even in response to God's good gifts in our lives!

Step 3: We forget God. You see pride is a form of worship... it is self-worship. Pride is a selfish ruler who will not bear with any competitor for your affection and it certainly will not allow you to humble yourself by bowing the knee before Almighty God. In fact, any glimpse of God as He truly is would shatter your newly inflated self-image. That is why a heart filled with pride must forget God for its own self-preservation. We stop worshiping Him, stop serving Him, and stop thanking Him for all our blessings. After all they are the result of our own hard work, aren't they?

This is when judgment comes. So be wary. Check your heart. Weed out pride. Count your blessings. And above all credit your blessings to God, not to your own wisdom, hard work, or righteousness.

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights...

James 1:16-17

The Greatest

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

Matthew 18:1-4

What makes a person great? How do you measure greatness? Do you need fame? Fortune? Status? Some would say that the key is arrogance. In sports and business people tend to think that self-confidence isn’t enough to be truly great. You need to be a little cocky. You need to have some swagger. You need to believe you are the greatest before you can become the greatest. 

Muhammad Ali certainly believed that. Consider this quote from the man many consider to be the greatest boxer of all time. "I'm not the greatest, I'm the double greatest. Not only do I knock 'em out, I pick the round."

Thankfully God measures greatness differently than our world does. In fact, He turns our concept of greatness on its ear. Jesus says that if you want to be considered truly great by God, then you must humble yourself. In other words, the way up is down. Humble yourself before God and He will make you great.

Jesus gives us a picture of what this looks like, a little child. Specifically, Jesus draws attention to the child’s humble standing. In first century Jewish culture children were the most powerless members of society. They had no status and no power or privileges. They were completely dependent on their parents' love for provision. (Keener, Craig S., The Bible Background Commentary on the New Testament, p.93.) Yet, Jesus says we must become like this if we hope to be saved and if we want to be great by God's measure.

So how do you approach God? Do the words "humble," "dependent" and "powerless" accurately describe your demeanor before the Lord? If not, then you have a pride problem. The Christian philosopher Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, “Pride grows in the human heart like lard on a pig.” Pride is a sneaky sin. In my experience the more you think you aren’t proud the more likely it is that you are!

God hates pride! Scripture tells us that He opposes the proud (James 4:6). It says that He pays them back in full (Psalm 31:23). It even says that God detests the proud and ensures they are punished (Proverbs 16:5). So what must we do?

Humble yourself before God. Come to Him seeking forgiveness of your sin. Serve others, especially His church! Jesus said “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Begin obeying His commands. When you read His Word allow it to correct you instead trying to find some error in it. When you pray, seek God's help like a small child would. You should even fast from time-to-time to remind yourself how great your need for God is.

Isaiah 66:2 says, “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word." Is this verse doesn't describe your heart today, then humble yourself before the Lord and ask for forgiveness.

For further consideration...

• More than 16 times in Scripture God says that He exalts the humble but casts down the proud. - 2 Samuel 22:28, Psalm 18:27, Psalm 107:39-41, Psalm 147:6, Proverbs 3:34, Proverbs 11:2, Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 18:12, Zephaniah 3:11-12, Proverbs 29:23, Matthew 23:12, Luke 1:51-52, Luke 14:11, Luke 18:14, James 4:6, I Peter 5:5. 
• Consider how Jesus humbled Himself- Mark 10:44-45 & Philippians 2:5-11.

Cling Closely and Bring Glory

Do you have any clothes that are an expensive brand name or just something you save for special occasions? Chances are that when you wear them out you feel better about yourself. You have a little added pep in your step. You think you look your best. But have you ever ruined any clothes like that before? Maybe you got a huge stain on them. When something that fine gets ruined, it looks so much worse than when you get a stain on regular old pair of jeans or a t-shirt. It's like the stain stands out and screams for attention even louder against the backdrop of such fine clothing.

God commands the prophet Jeremiah to act out a metaphor very much like this for His people in Jeremiah chapter thirteen. God has Jeremiah buy a fine linen undergarment to wear. Then He told him to go to a certain river and to hide it in a cleft of a rock. Only many days later did the Lord tell Jeremiah to go and retrieve it. Of course it was ruined, wet and muddy. It was useless. In verses nine and ten God reveals the significance of this acted out metaphor.

This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless!

Jeremiah's ruined belt or undergarment represents the pride of Judah which God promises to ruin. God is bringing judgment on His people because of their idolatry and stubborn refusal to repent. Then, in verse eleven, God pushes the symbolism a step further saying,

'For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’

God reveals that the ruined belt also symbolizes how His people have ruined His glory. God's people were supposed to cling to Him like a fine belt that always stayed close and brought added glory by virtue of their fine quality. Instead, because of their sin and unfaithfulness to God, Israel and Judah have become defiled and have failed to glorify God. Now they are like a soiled belt wrapped around His waist. As God's people they bear His name and they drag it along with them into their sin.

It is heartbreaking to think that God's people would so callously besmirch God's name. Yet, how often do we do the same? We call ourselves Christians, then we unabashedly go to the theaters and publicly watch movies we know Christ never would. We go to church and we attack and viciously tear down our leaders and other believers in ways that are out of step with Christ's love for His church. We engage in our secret sins, thinking that no one sees, but God does.

Father, help us to live as your people in this world. Help us to cling tightly to you, to always stay close to you and to live in a way that increases your fame, your glory, and your praise. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Flattery

Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts. May the Lord silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue— those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”

Psalm 12:1-4

Flattery seems harmless enough. So what if we "put a little extra butter on the bread" to make someone else feel good about himself? But flattery isn't just bending the truth a little in order to be nice to people. Flattery is buttering someone up with smooth words in order to get something from them. Flattery parades as something that is all about the other person. In reality it is always about the flatterer. He or she wants something and is willing to lie and deceive to get it. They flatter either in the hopes that it will endear them to the person who can give them what they want, or in order to gain the trust of someone whom they plan to betray and steal what they want from. Flattery is nothing more than manipulation for your own ends. The psalmist is right when he says "no one is faithful anymore... Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts."

Listening to flattery is dangerous. Most people agree that flattery sets such an alluring trap because we are all a little too eager to read our own fan mail. We aren't suspicious of flattery because it feeds the vanity that already resides in our hearts. "Finally!", we think. "Someone recognizes me for how great I am." This unchecked and often unnoticed pride makes us all too willing to believe flattery's lies. Proverbs 29:5 rightly warns, "Those who flatter their neighbors are spreading nets for their feet." People don't flatter us to build up our self-esteem, but to take from us what they want. They are baiting us. The employee compliments his boss in order to get a promotion. For men to flatter women with lies in order to get sex is so common a dating practice today that it is hardly even looked down upon anymore.

What are we to do against those who would attack us with such deceptively friendly methods? How can the poor protect themselves from those who gain power through flattery and then use it to extort the needy? Turn to the Lord! Psalm 12 continues: "'Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,' says the Lord. 'I will protect them from those who malign them'” (Psalm 12:5). What an encouragement for the afflicted to hear that God Himself will come to their rescue! But dare they trust God's word? You can almost hear the afflicted scoff. "Sure! God says He will arise and protect me. It sounds too good to be true to me." But the psalmist anticipates this response. "And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times" (Psalm 12:6). He tells us that God's words are not like the flatterer's. God's words can be trusted. They are pure and true. Thus, we can say in confidence, "You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked, who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race" (Psalm 12:7-8).

So what can you do in the face of flattery?

1. Turn to God for protection from those who would afflict you with power gained by deceptive means.
2. Ask God for wisdom and discernment to identify flattery when someone tries to use it against you.
3. Regularly read God's Word. It is only as we view ourselves in the light of the truth of His Word that we gain a realistic view of ourselves. This is the best way to kill that remaining pride in our hearts which makes us so susceptible to flattery.
4. And guard your mouth! Remind yourself that the believer should never resort to flattery and manipulation in order to gain for himself what God is so very capable of providing for His children already.

For further reading...

• Proverbs 26:28- They are up to no good!
• Jude 16- Why do they flatter?
• I Thessalonians 2:4-6- Paul never used flattery.

Monuments to our Glory

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

 

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

 

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

 

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Genesis 11:1-9

 

 

God's instructions to the first humans were simple: be fruitful, fill the earth, subdue it, rule over it, and do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We all know how Adam and Eve ignored the command not to eat of the tree. The incident at the tower of Babel shows us how their descendants disregarded another of God's instructions. Instead of spreading over the face of the land and filling the earth as God commanded, they grouped together. Their common language allowed them to cooperate toward a common end. Under normal circumstances this is a good thing, but they were cooperating to build a monument for their own glory, to make a name for themselves. God did not create humanity to glorify ourselves or exalt our own names, but to bring glory to Him. Their common language allowed them to take part in even greater sin than each man could have on his own. Already mankind was exchanging the glory of the immortal God for a cheap knockoff (Romans 1:23).

 

God, in His wisdom, confused men's language, causing them to babble. This broke up man's cooperation in sin and caused them to keep His original commandment to fill the earth. It's interesting to consider this story in light of the Day of Pentecost in the New Testament (Acts 2). At Pentecost, God sent His Spirit to fill the disciples and enable them to speak languages they formerly had not known. The Lord temporarily reversed what He had done at the tower of Babel so many years before and tore down the language barrier. Why?  So that the good news of Jesus Christ could advance more quickly to all people. God built the language barrier to avoid mankind working toward his own glory. He removed the language barrier so that mankind could more easily work towards His glory.
 

Are you working to make a name for yourself or for God? In what ways are you erecting monuments to your own glory? Many people work long hours for many years to make a name for themselves in their community, profession, or even vicariously through the lives of their children. They live and die for their own glory. They even put their names on buildings so their name will be remembered long after they are gone (a remarkably similar folly to that of Babel). What monuments do you need to tear down in your life today?

Maybe you haven't built any monuments to yourself, but are you building monuments for God? Are you cooperating with others spread the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection to people of every tribe, nation, people, and tongue? All believers are called to do just this. Are you giving to missions, praying for missions, supporting ministries that translate the Bible into the languages of unreached people groups? God has given us many tools to cross language barriers today with the gospel. Be sure that your life is spent building something that will last.

 

For further reading...

• Acts 2- Read the story of Pentecost and compare it for yourself.
• Operation World is a ministry that helps Christians pray for God's great mission of love around the world. They have a wonderful prayer calendar you can use to pray throughout the year for people in every nation. You can also sign up to receive an email prompt every day with ideas to help you pray for the advance of the gospel in various nations.
• Revelation 5:9-10, 7:9-10, 14:6-7- Rejoice that God will prevail! He will redeem for Himself people from every tribe, nation, and tongue.

It Starts Small

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

Mark 4:30-32

 

 

It occurred to me tonight as my wife and I read to our daughter out of her story Bible that God has a habit of starting large undertakings in small ways. When His people were enslaved in Egypt, even before they cried out for His help in Exodus 2:23-25, God began His rescue plan by saving one little baby boy from Pharaoh's plan to kill him (Exodus 1-2). Think about it. When God's people needed a Savior, He didn't send an army or even a lone warrior. God sent a baby! Then He worked in Moses' life for 80 years - first giving him a heart for God's people (Acts 7:23-29) then teaching him to be a shepherd (Exodus 3:1-3) - before finally calling him at the burning bush to lead the exodus.

 

Much, much later when the Savior to whom Moses' life pointed came to rescue God's people from their sins, He came not as a conquering warrior to trample Satan under His feet, but He also came as a seemingly helpless baby boy. A baby who, like Moses, was rescued from the hands of a murderous king. A baby who was dependent on a teenage girl for nourishment and care. This boy grew to be a man as He waited thirty years to begin His ministry. It was through Him that God redeemed a people for His name from every tribe, people, nation and tongue (Revelation 5:9). It was He who crushed the power of Satan by allowing Himself to be crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5).

 

There is a profound wisdom in God's plan that is beyond my understanding. But tonight as I consider it, it occurs to me that perhaps this is why God opposes the proud and so often chooses to exalt the humble by using them to do great things (James 4:6-7). It is how He has gone about doing things for a long time. It maximizes His glory. If this is right, then one major tactic the enemy might use to make us unfruitful in the service of our Lord is to encourage creeping pride in our lives. Examine your heart. Do you find pride? If so, ask the Lord to root it out. Perhaps this small prayer will be the beginning of another great work of God in your life.

 

For further reading...

• Exodus 1-3- Consider how the Lord worked in Moses' early life.
• Matthew 1-3- Compare Jesus' early life to that of Moses.

Feeling a Bit Puffy Lately?

But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God.

1 Corinthians 8:2-3



 

We all like being the one who knows more, right? Even as little kids, when we knew something that our friends (or even our parents) didn't know it made us feel good. The truth is that many of us are still like this as adults and it contributes to our conflicts. We care much less about our relationships with the people who disagree with us than we do about proving that we are right...that we know more than they do. Knowledge is a good thing, but it can puff up. This is the difference between simply being smart and being a smart aleck.

 

Today's passage reminds us that no matter how smart we are, none of us know yet as we ought to know. You can be the smartest person on the planet and still be humbled by the truth that you do not yet know all that you will know one day in heaven. Nor do you know anything now in the way you will know it there. You see knowledge is always understood within a specific context, or worldview. You can know a fact, but misunderstand its importance when you are looking at it from the wrong perspective. Only once all is revealed from heaven's vantage point will we fully and finally grasp God's plan in all its glory. Only then can we see how all the little factoids we have picked up along the way fit into His grand masterpiece.

 

Yet, all of this is surpassed by something else: love. Whoever loves God is known by God. What a promise! What a blessing. How many of our problems are based on the fact that we are striving for knowledge of God or of His creation at the expense of drawing nearer to Him in love? Even knowledge of God can puff up. For that reason, it goes unnoticed from God's vantage point. But love for God puts a person on His radar. We can be sure that a man or woman or child who is deeply in love with God does not go unnoticed. In a world of ungrateful rebels, souls that are lifted up in true heartfelt affection stand out in sharp contrast. So I wonder...have you been seeking after knowledge of God more than love of Him? Has your knowledge of God or of anything else caused you to get a bit puffy in your interactions with Him or with others? If so, choose to focus on love today. Love for God and love for others. And as you do, know that you will not go unnoticed by God.

 

 

For further reading...

• John 15- Abide in Him.
• Mark 12:28-31- The two greatest commandments.

Jesus and the Tax Man

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:13-17

How interesting that Jesus calls as one of His chosen twelve, Levi, a man who was a tax collector. Now tax collectors are hated pretty much universally for obvious reasons, but in the first century there were extra reasons for the Jews to hate a man like Levi. The Roman Empire had conquered Israel and now they were taxing them. Levi, a Jew, had taken a job working for the Romans taxing his own people and giving that money to this occupying government. What is more, it was very often the case in that day that tax collectors would overcharge and pocket some of the excess (Luke 19:8). This Levi, also called Matthew*, was so hated as a tax collector that the Bible lumps him and the other tax collectors together with a social class of people that were known at that time simply as "sinners." Verse 15 tells us that many of these tax collectors and "sinners" followed Jesus.

When you stop to think about it, this is really surprising. If you were to imagine God coming to earth in human form, who would you expect Him to hang out with? Not sinners! Even by the Old Testament understanding the Messiah was expected to judge sinners harshly, not hang out with them. So how do we explain this? Well, Jesus explained it quite nicely in verse 17. In my opinion this is one of the all time mind-blowing statements in the history of the world. Jesus explains that He is like a doctor who has come to bring healing. It's the sick people who need to see the doctor, not those who are well.** It's clear that Jesus knew exactly what his purpose was, and He set about doing God's business. He came to "seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).

What characterizes your interaction with lost people? Some Christians avoid the lost altogether. Like the Pharisees we turn our noses up at them. We create labels that we attach to them in a vain attempt to show our own perceived moral superiority. But this doesn't reflect the love of Christ, and it doesn't advance God's kingdom in our world at all. Other Christians embrace sinners, but they also run headlong after the same sinful pleasures as their lost friends. They emphasize their acceptance of lost people by living a lost lifestyle with them. But this type of behavior doesn't offer the true healing that Jesus came and died to offer. This healing comes only through repentance. Still others, following more closely in the footsteps of Christ, dedicate their lives to seeking and saving the lost. They embrace lost people by showing them the love of God for them that was made manifest in the cross of Christ. In so doing, they show the lost the true cost of their sin and urge them to repentance for the healing of their souls, for the glory of God, and for the exaltation of Christ our Savior. Could anything be more noble a passion than this? Praise God that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost! Praise God that He is still calling them to repentance today! And commit yourself to this most noble of endeavors while there is still time. Love lost people with the love of Christ.

For further reading...

• Luke 19:1-10- Read another story about a tax collector whom Jesus befriended.
• Matthew- Read some of Levi's account of the life of Christ. 

*Jesus not only takes this one tax collector Levi into his inner circle of twelve disciples, but Levi is also believed to have later authored the Gospel of Matthew.

**Of course, Jesus' statement is filled with irony. He came to bring a spiritual healing that everyone needed. We are all ill with sin. The difference was that the "sinners" and tax collectors knew they were sinners and were willing to admit it. They knew they needed Jesus' healing. The Pharisees weren't willing to admit their sin, and it is hard to be healed when you don't know and/or won't admit that you are sick.

The Great Paradox of God

For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. I will not accuse them forever, nor will I always be angry, for then they would faint away because of me— the very people I have created."

Isaiah 57:15-16

What a paradox our God is! He is both high and exalted, yet He chooses to delight in the lowly and contrite. This juxtaposition of seemingly contradictory traits is more than man could have imagined. Yet, it is true of our God! This passage brings to mind the story of Manasseh, king of Judah. Scripture tells us that Manasseh led Jerusalem back into the idol worship that his father King Hezekiah helped lead them out of. This Manasseh even went so far as to sacrifice his own children in the fire to foreign gods and to erect idols in the sacred temple of the Lord. Thus, Scripture rightly says of Manasseh that he "led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites" (II Chronicles 33:9). 

However, this is not the end of Manasseh's story. It continues in chapter thirty-three of II Chronicles to become not only one of the most unexpected repentance stories in all of Scripture, but also one of the clearest examples of God's grace and forgiveness in the Old Testament.

The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed to Him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.

II Chronicles 33:10-13

The next few verses of the chapter tell how Manasseh returned to Jerusalem a changed man. After once again making Jerusalem secure from its enemies, "he got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the Lord, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem; and he threw them out of the city. Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel" (II Chronicles 33:15-16).

If there is anything we can learn from Manasseh it is the wisdom of humble repentance when we find ourselves under God's judgment. How often we bear the result of our sin with disdain. How frequently we cry out to God as though we were as innocent as Job and demand to know how He can allow our afflictions to come upon us. The truth is that many of these afflictions are the result of our own sin. God cannot be mocked, we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7). It is often better to humble ourselves under the Lord's correction and to show Him a contrite heart. God didn't have to hear Manasseh's prayer, but He did because He delights in humility and repentance. Humble yourself before the Lord, and see if you do not fare better.


For further reading...

• Philippians 2:1-11: Jesus is the ultimate example of a man who lived in humility before the Father.
• Proverbs 22:4,  Proverbs 3:34 & Daniel 4: There are numerous passages of Scripture that point to the fact that God prefers humility to pride. These are just a few. 
• Isaiah 57: Read the context.