Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.
Yea, all of you be subject one to another,
and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth
the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty
hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time:
casting all your care upon Him: for He
careth for you.
1Peter 5:5-7
The word humble has the connotation of negativity a thing that this culture which strives to remove her from a person in an attempt to replace it with this "empowerment." What does it mean to be humble? It means not to be proud or arrogant in fact it means to be modest you can mean to be submissive maybe even to cause you to feel insignificant or inferior and can mean to destroy the independence or will, to make a person meek as to be humble in one's heart. So it is interesting that this word has both a positive and negative connotation at least that's what it seems on the surface. People are afraid to feel insignificant, that is to feel unimportant, or to be too small to be important, to not have influence or some sort of distinction in or to be contemptible or have or be without meaning to be meaningless.a person will draw from the definition of the word "humble" to fit their ideology, even theology, or their desires is how they desire to live life. The Bible uses this word humble and humility to designate a person's attitude toward themselves and towards life and towards others it does not mean that it person who is humble is a person who allows themselves to be trampled upon. It simply means to follow the command of God which is to love God with your whole heart and mind and soul and then by this godly principle of love to apply that love to others and do things that you will be exercising in this life. were a person in fact it erases that person to a higher position in that this love is not simply self love but a love of God manifesting itself towards others. This is not a culture of this world and unfortunately cultural Christians have allowed this worldly culture to invade and in fact the current state of the Christian church.
We have examples of how a person, or a government, or even a church will do all they can to humble layperson in a negative manner and many have gone to extremes in their attempt for this attempt is to repress not to uplift. Yes they may speak of uplifting people but this is not the what is actually meant by them for as they may inspire some they repress others. An ancient Greeks city, Sparta, perished for more than 700 years with a system that discouraged selfishness and they did this by prohibiting commerce and imposing poverty and hardship on the citizens of Sparta. The Roman empire did exactly the same thing for they raised a high-level public spirit and gave it the equivalent of a glorious love for the Empire and for its heroes. The result of those cities is simply one of history, it is downfall. This is what it happens: public vitality if it depends on conquest, that under those systems was necessary for them to exist, vitality languishes when the conquest is over and wealth and luxury produced stagnation and stagnation terminates in death.
Not to be simply political, but it must be stated that the continuance of a government, or even of a church, is purchased at the suffering and poverty of its citizens or its congregants, the means to achieve their goal is sacrificed to achieve their purposes. This is self-defeating. When people attempt to achieve the greatest happiness for themselves or for a greater number and do this at the cost of the necessary humility that does the best for others a society can not survive long, nor can a church or does such things be under the grace of God. When a government, a person, or a church represses people under doctrines, and practices that are not either of the Bible, or simply are a repression of the people and hide it under some sort of clothes that hides the truth always been done as the government or people are attempting to be God. In every effort of these events or people or government has faults in their execution and they failed to achieve their purposes.
We live in a country, a great country, the greatest country that was ever born in the history of this world, it is a blessing to live in such a country. To allow a government to become suppressive and to make laws that are contrary to God's Word, most immoral laws that are in contradiction to the morality of God then we must stand on the word of God and I am not saying that we should take arms against a government or against even a denomination or church that fails to be God's laws properly, no! This is not the primary purpose of Christianity for the primary purpose of Christianity is to root out natural selfishness. Why? This is not what is being taught in the culture of this world and in many of our churches today. To root out natural selfishness is done in order to help us to develop a proper sense of who we are and what our obligations are to our fellow human beings. Benevolence is a driving principle of Authentic Christianity. Every church you have a benevolent fund and to use this fund for the needs of those who are authentically in need. I just spoke to a lady at the sundial Bridge while walking my dog who attends the Bethel Church of Reading and had to fight for a few bucks gasoline so she could attend their church only after she filled out a request and this by a church who has the income of millions of dollars a year. Yes we must be careful in our distribution of our benevolent fund but we also not need to be calloused. It is great that many churches send missionaries into the field, and even groups of people to other countries and to other parts within this country to build churches, and to hold Bible studies, etc., manifest in the love of God. This is putting others ahead of oneself and this is humility. A person must be diligent in their performance of personal and civil responsibilities, a commitment to doing the will of God, and to be patient, trusting, having this attitude toward the providence of God as they face and respond to the unpredictable and often discouraging events of life.
Authentic Christians face many trials and tribulations, discouragement, as they do all they can to manifest the love of God. This can be done as we do the same as Paul did and can be read in the 20th chapter of the book of Acts. Paul did not hold lordship over those to whom he brought the Gospel. No! Paul knew he would face trials and tribulations for the sake of the gospel and was willing to suffer much under the hands of those who opposed him even though he had the power of being a Pharisee. Furthermore he had the power of being a Roman citizen. Paul could have demanded more but did not before he was humbled before the Lord and brought the Gospel to others under any condition. The question is: Will you?
The fear of man bringeth a snare:
but every man's judgment
cometh from the LORD. An unjust man
is an abomination to the just:
and he that is up right in the way
is abomination to the wicked.
Proverbs 29: 26 -- 27
Be humble before God
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment