tapeinosis

I just want to post a couple thoughts from Andrew Murray's work "Humility". I hope they rock your world. Drink up!

'Humility is the only soil in which the graces root; the lack of humility is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a grace or virtue along with others; it is the root of all, because it alone takes the right attitude before God, and allows Him as God to do all.'

'Pride has its root and strength in a terrible spiritual power, outside of us as well as within us; as needful as it is that we confess and deplore it as our very own, is it to know it, in its Satanic origin. If this leads us to utter despair of ever conquering or casting it out, it will lead us all the sooner to that supernatural power in which alone our deliverance is to be found- the redemption of the Lamb of God.'

'In this view it is of inconceivable importance that we should have right thoughts of what Christ is, of what really constitutes him the Christ, and specially of what may be counted his chief characteristic, the root and essence of all his character as our Redeemer. There can be but one answer; it is his humility. What is the incarnation but his heavenly humility, his emptying himself and becoming man? What is his life on earth but humility; his taking the form of a servant? And what is his atonement but humility? "He humbled himself and became obedient to death." And what is his ascension and his glory, but humility exalted to the throne and crowned with glory? "He humbled himself, therefore God highly exalted Him."...Christ is the humility of God embodied in human nature, the Eternal Love humbling itself, clothing itself in the garb of meekness and gentleness, to win and serve and save us.'

'If this be the root of the tree, its nature must be seen in every branch and leaf and fruit. If humility be the first, the all-including grace of the life of Jesus- if humility be the secret of his atonement-then the health and strength of our spiritual life will entirely depend upon our putting this grace first too, and making humility the chief thing we admire in him, the chief thing we ask of him, the one thing for which we sacrifice all else. Is it any wonder that the Christian life is so often feeble and fruitless, when the very root of the Christ life is neglected, is unknown? Is it any wonder that the joy of salvation is so little felt, when that in which Christ found it and brings it, is so little sought? Until a humility which will rest in nothing less than the end and death of self; which gives up all the honor of men as Jesus did, to seek the honor that comes from God alone; which absolutely makes and counts itself nothing, that God may be all, that the Lord alone may be exalted- until such a humility be what we seek in Christ above our chief joy, and welcome at any price, there is very little hope of a religion that will conquer the world.'

'Look to it that you abase and humble yourselves, and take no place before God or man but that of servant; that is your work; let that be your one purpose and prayer. God is faithful. Just as water ever seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds the creature abased and empty, his glory and power flow in to exalt and to bless. He that humbleth himself-that must be our one care-shall be exalted; that is God's care; by his mighty power and in his great love he will do it... Oh that all would believe that this is the nobility of the kingdom of Heaven, that this is the royal spirit that the King of Heaven displayed, that this is Godlike, to humble oneself, to become the servant of all! This is the path to the gladness and the glory of Christ's presence ever in us, his power ever resting on us.'

'It is easy to think we humble ourselves before God: but humility towards men will be the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real; that humility has taken up its abode in us, and become our very nature; that we actually, like Christ, have made ourselves of no reputation... Humility before God is nothing if not proved in humility before men.'

'The chief mark of counterfeit holiness is its lack of humility. Every seeker after holiness needs to be on his guard, lest unconsciously what was begun in the spirit be perfected in the flesh, and pride creep in where its presence is least expected... There is no pride so dangerous, because none so subtle and insidious, as the pride of holiness... It reveals itself, not only in words or thoughts, but in a tone, a way of speaking of others, in which those who have the gift of spiritual discernment cannot but recognize the power of self. Even the world with its keen eyes notices it, and points to it as a proof that the profession of a heavenly life does not bear any specially heavenly fruits.'

My eyes hurt

This week in Acts we talked about the stoning of Stephen at the end of Ch 7, and all the things that he said about Jesus that got the Sanhedrin so riled up that they wanted to kill him. We talked about the fact that he probably wasn't pelted to death by small rocks, but that he was most likely bound hand and foot, placed at the bottom of a cliff, and was crushed under the weight of a large boulder that was pushed off of said cliff. About the fact that Stephen looked into heaven and saw the glory of God, something that Moses asked to see, but was never allowed to. And how Stephen is the only person to ever see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. Everybody else always saw Christ seated by God, never standing. We pondered whether Jesus was standing to welcome Stephen into eternity, or whether he was standing in wait to pronounce judgement on the Jews. We agreed it was probably both of those things.

And then we went back to how being bouldered to death is a bad way to go. And how we have more advanced ways to kill these days. And then Dr. Fowler made a comment that has stuck with me all day. Something to this effect; that as Christians, we are guilty of killing people with our words almost daily. And then I got this mental picture of rocks flying from cold, calculating mouths all over Christendom, and how we aim our words like deadly stones at the redeemed and lost alike. And how we are so quick to give voice to what is essentially a murderous heart. We rush to pronounce judgement on someone, to lay waste to their intrinsic value as an image bearer, without a second thought to the fact that in the eyes of Jesus, when we do this, we are no better than the murderer waiting for execution on Death Row. Crazy. Kinda makes me feel like crap when I realize how much I am guilty of this, of playing the destroyer. It certainly flies in the face of ideas like being known for our love, and bearing each other's burdens, and having speech seasoned with salt and grace.

Another thing. Sometimes, in our never-ending fundamentalist quest to not be swayed by every wind of doctrine, we find ourselves neglecting to practice the fruits of our supposed beliefs. Orthodoxy is much more common these days than orthopraxy. And I think God is more concerned in the grand scheme of things with right living than with right belief. Belief isn't really belief at all unless it works itself out in real life, in our thoughts and actions. We don't really believe what we say we believe unless we live what we say we believe. Well, I have a 9:20 class tomorrow. Good night.

Every day is a journal page, every man holds a quill and ink
There's plenty of room for writing in all we do and believe and think
So will you compose a curse, or will today bring the blessings?
Fill the page with rhyming verse, or some random sketchings?

Teach us to count the days, teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways, 'cuz somehow our souls forgot
Life means so much, life means so much
Life means so much

Every day is a bank account, and time is our currency
So no one's rich, nobody's poor, we get 24 hours each
So how are you gonna spend, will you invest or squander?
Try to get ahead or help someone who's under?

Teach us to count the days, teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways, 'cuz somehow our souls forgot
Life means so much, life means so much
Life means so much

Has anybody lived who knew the value of a life?
And don't you think giving His own would prove the worth of yours and mine?

Teach us to count the days, teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways, 'cuz somehow our souls forgot
Life means so much, life means so much
Life means so much...

-Chris Rice