An old Serbian proverb advises, "Be humble, for you are made of the earth. Be noble, for you are made of the stars." It doesn't take much to accept the first part, but believing the second part is a challenge. Could it ever be true that we contain even just a sprinkle of the sparkle of heaven?
Jesus was a bundle of contradictions, so it's not that surprising that anyone following him ends up caught in the web of his paradoxes, or are we? We are led to believe we are mere dirt and spit brought to life, and in the very next breath we are the image of God, encompassing every ounce of his glory and beauty. no pressure there! Sometimes it's hard to figure out where the balance is. Am I to worthless to go on or to worthwhile to give up? I believe Jesus showed up just to prove the latter.
He even played the game himself for a while. As Philippians says, he was the one " who , being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing..... being in human likeness" (2:6-7). The maker of the stars stepped down to the earth to show us what we're made of; a touch of heaven and a whole lot of earth. He was willing to stoop to our level to show us the heights we could attain.
Jesus Christ is our ideal model for humility in obedience and service. Our thoughts, attitudes, and actions are to be patterned after Christ. His willingness to humbly obey his father is a great example for us. As we take an honest moral inventory of our life, we must humbly admit our faults so we can begin to change our destructive patterns. If we follow Jesus Christ in humility, learning to admit our failures without hesitation, nothing will be able to stop our growth and recovery.
Maybe then it isn't such a contradiction after all. God molded an Adam from the dust of the ground, the earth he already poured his love into and then in one divine kiss, breathed the life of heaven into his soul. We are as much of a creation of what is above as we are of what is beneath us. We have feet of clay and a soul made to soar the skies.
Obedience to God's program is one of the requirements for spiritual growth. But how can we lead a clean, innocent life like he wants us to? We have already admitted that we are powerless over our addictions and circumstances. God not only asks us to live a Godly life , he also provides us the power to do it. He works in us, giving us the desire and ability to obey him. As we get to know God by reading the bible and spending time with him in prayer, he can transform us from the inside out so we can shine brightly before him.
A quirky old country song lamented, "It's hard to be humble when your perfect in every way." Good for a laugh, but luckily, we're daily given reminders of just how far we have to go so that we may resist really ever believing we are that wonderful. At the same time, God lets us keep our starry eyed hearts set on him and the promise of what can be. We remain children of the living God, a noble people with a marvelous inheritance waiting, even while plodding the dusty roads before us.
Question
Humanity and divinity mingled was the gift of Jesus to the world. How can you manifest that combination in your own life to the glory of God and good of others around you?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Honor
In the movie "To kill a mocking bird", Gregory Peck patiently tried to explain to his daughter scout, why people hate. She'd already seen it all around her: a strange boy who had condemned himself to a hermit's life for not being the same as everyone else, and a poor boy at school whose only crime seemed to be being poor. Then, looming over all of them, the innocent man already hung for nothing more than being someone no one else wanted around. Someone they feared because they could not understand ~ and hate became the easiest way out.
Somehow in his gentle explanation, Peck's character managed to sum up life's pursuit in much the same way that Jesus did two thousand years earlier: "Do to others as you would have them do to you". It was as simple and as complicated as that. Even we who are not children listening on someones knee know that it's much easier said than done. But when all is said and done, it really is the truth of life, the embodiment of what Micah says when he declares what God requires of us: " To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (6:8).
Who can forget that incredible courtroom scene ~ a place where hate collided with the truth and Atticus Finch was in the fight of his life? As a simple lawyer, he knew the not so simple truth. When it would have been easier to walk away, easier to let hate take over all reason and go back home, away from all these unreasonable souls consumed by their own prejudices, he did the right thing. He stayed and he fought for a friend. He fought for innocence lost and for the innocence found again. Maybe deep down he knew that what he helped others find in themselves meant that he, too, could keep it alive in himself.
There are no easy answers. And even in the movies, there isn't always a happy ending. Being true to his word, Atticus found, didn't guarantee happiness. It didn't even guarantee fairness. Yet it was still a lesson worth teaching his daughter, his neighbor, his enemies, his friends. He said it was a sin to kill a mockingbird because mockingbirds just go busily about their lives and do nothing to hurt us. God gives the same warning when it comes to all people. Let go of the hurt and the "eye for an eye". ...Love is all you need after all. And love can cover a multitude of sins.
God's greatest commandment was to Love, in love is forgiveness, healing and hope. In love we find our desire to do what we know is right in our "Knower" in our soul, God's will in our lives, hearts and all our ways. As we grow closer to the Lord in relationship it is his gentle nudge to our spirit that helps us over come our old reactions, habits and hangups. thus allowing those areas in our lives that has kept us tied to pain and sin be finally freed and healed by him. Teaching us his grace and mercy so then we can be more graceful and mercy giving with others.
CHALLENGE :
Sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing. Write about a time in your life in which you made that honorable choice with the Lords leading and how it healed and or transformed you leading to more grace for others and yourself.
Somehow in his gentle explanation, Peck's character managed to sum up life's pursuit in much the same way that Jesus did two thousand years earlier: "Do to others as you would have them do to you". It was as simple and as complicated as that. Even we who are not children listening on someones knee know that it's much easier said than done. But when all is said and done, it really is the truth of life, the embodiment of what Micah says when he declares what God requires of us: " To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (6:8).
Who can forget that incredible courtroom scene ~ a place where hate collided with the truth and Atticus Finch was in the fight of his life? As a simple lawyer, he knew the not so simple truth. When it would have been easier to walk away, easier to let hate take over all reason and go back home, away from all these unreasonable souls consumed by their own prejudices, he did the right thing. He stayed and he fought for a friend. He fought for innocence lost and for the innocence found again. Maybe deep down he knew that what he helped others find in themselves meant that he, too, could keep it alive in himself.
There are no easy answers. And even in the movies, there isn't always a happy ending. Being true to his word, Atticus found, didn't guarantee happiness. It didn't even guarantee fairness. Yet it was still a lesson worth teaching his daughter, his neighbor, his enemies, his friends. He said it was a sin to kill a mockingbird because mockingbirds just go busily about their lives and do nothing to hurt us. God gives the same warning when it comes to all people. Let go of the hurt and the "eye for an eye". ...Love is all you need after all. And love can cover a multitude of sins.
God's greatest commandment was to Love, in love is forgiveness, healing and hope. In love we find our desire to do what we know is right in our "Knower" in our soul, God's will in our lives, hearts and all our ways. As we grow closer to the Lord in relationship it is his gentle nudge to our spirit that helps us over come our old reactions, habits and hangups. thus allowing those areas in our lives that has kept us tied to pain and sin be finally freed and healed by him. Teaching us his grace and mercy so then we can be more graceful and mercy giving with others.
CHALLENGE :
Sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing. Write about a time in your life in which you made that honorable choice with the Lords leading and how it healed and or transformed you leading to more grace for others and yourself.
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