John 13:8

"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."

What is this initial adversity we have towards being served?  Why do we often jump at the first chance to serve others but seldom take the time to let others serve us?  Why is it that we want to alleviate the pain of others while ignoring the pain we carry inside?  If it is true that when we do not allow ourselves to be served, we can have no part with Christ, what prevents us from allowing his Body to minister to our needs?

Pride, most likely.

The temptation for church and ministry leaders to want to minister to others while at the same time keeping them at arms length so as to not allow them to reciprocate is often a matter of pride.  The attitude speaks clearly "You cannot help Me, I'm here to help YOU."  But it is the weak things of the Earth that Christ uses, often the poorest and most downtrodden, to teach the rest of us humility.

Or perhaps you do not want to be served because you feel unworthy to be served and you desire approval and affirmation as you serve everyone else for your sense of worth.  This too is a reverse-pride and a denial of Christ's service and his grace towards you.  Christ has deemed you worthy, who are you to say otherwise?  There is no amount of guilt or shame you bear that is more powerful than Christ's ability to forgive.

So shall you deny Christ and spurn his love towards you any longer?

1 Peter 5:7

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 

 The LORD cares for absolutely everything that bothers you, even if it is small and ridiculous.  He cares for you and how you are doing.  He pops in every now and then just to see how you are.  He is always there to listen to you vent about a stressful day or to calm your fears and worries.  He provides even for the smallest details if you ask him to.

So often we only ask God for big things, but he who is able to handle big issues can certainly take care of smaller ones as well.  Peter says to cast all of your anxieties on Him, not just the ones you don't think you can handle.  Humble yourself and give to him your anxiety and he will give you grace.  Allow yourself to be put under God's complete and total care and he will lift you up.

There is no use pretending to be strong.  What good is choosing to suffer alone for the sake of keeping up appearances?  It is a mark of maturity to know when to ask for help.  It is a sign of humility.  And the strangest thing happens when someone is humble and asks for help:  they receive it from those who care for them.  So cast all your anxieties upon the Lord because he cares for you, and he will give you rest.

Mark 10:22

"At this the man's face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions."

This man was perfect.  He had it all, wealth, power, youth and an impeccable moral record.  Jesus himself, upon examining him closely, loved him.  Surely he would make a great disciple!  But when the invitation comes straight from Jesus's own mouth, the man goes away sad and all that excitement that was once in his face turned into utter defeat.  Eternal life was not worth more than his possessions.

So this man, whom any of us would want in our own churches, fails to become a disciple of Christ.  He is the first and only man Mark depicts as not immediately leaving everything behind and following Jesus when he says "Come and follow me."  To those whom much has been given much will be demanded.

This is a powerful reminder that a high social status is no ticket into heaven, but rather the ability to be brought low like a child.  It is not what you have that counts, but what you are willing to give up.  In the end, it is not the "righteous"who end up following Jesus, but the sinners and tax collectors, dirty fisherman and prostitutes, drug addicts and thieves, slanderers, sorcerers, and adulterers for all they have to give up is their past lives so that Christ might give them new ones.

Genesis 42:15-16

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I had a dream, and no one can interpret it.  But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it."
"I cannot do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "But God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires."

Joseph's entire life is defined by integrity and humility.  He never thinks of himself as more than he is.  He is more careful to be pure than to be thought pure, as was the case with the Potiphar's wife.  And so even as he was considered the least of all his brothers, so now will he become the greatest.  Because he was humble?  No.  Because God was with him and gave him success in all that he did.  Humility is the attitude that allows God to do what God does naturally.

Joseph understands that if it were not for God, he could do nothing in this situation.  And rather than take credit for something he could not actually do, he gives the credit to God.  This is humility, the ability to acknowledge one's own position in relation to God.

If a man were to give you a compliment, do not let it go to your head and inflate your ego.  Rather thank God who gives you all things.  After all, you did not make yourself. 

Jeremiah 38:20-22

"But Jeremiah said, “They will not give you over. Please obey the LORD in what I am saying to you, that it may go well with you and you may live. “But if you keep refusing to go out, this is the word which the LORD has shown me:

‘Then behold, all of the women who have been left in the palace of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon; and those women will say,

“Your close friends
Have misled and overpowered you;
While your feet were sunk in the mire,
They turned back.'"

What the LORD asked King Zedekiah to do is nothing easy.  He asked him to surrender to the invading army of Babylon so that many would be spared and the city not destroyed.  Instead of protecting the city like He has always done, he has sent the Babylonians against it to capture it because of the wickedness of Israel.  And although God's judgment is absolute, his mercy still shines through.  If Zedekiah but humbles himself and obeys the LORD one final time, many will live and Jerusalem will not burn.  The cost of disobedience is clear.  The penalty of sin is death.

Although the pressure on him to listen to his friends and please his officials is great, the cost of pleasing them is his own life for in the end they will betray him and leave him to die.  Only the LORD is able to offer him a way out, but it isn't going to be easy.  And just like Zedekiah, we all have a choice to make.

Job 40:8

"Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?"

This is the Lord speaking to Job, but these words were not written just for Job but for us as well.  The proud are people who love to justify themselves.  "I'm a good person because..."  "That person had it coming..." "I did what anyone would do..."  No one ever realizes they are doing the wrong thing until after they've done it, if they realize it at all.  For them, God can make mistakes but they are never wrong.

It is not until we learn to readily admit we are wrong that we can receive grace.  Those who are stubborn and those who must always be right will forever stubbornly refuse the grace that could have been theirs.  Humility is the key to the kingdom of God.  As Paul writes, "Let God be true and every man a liar".  In short, let God be God. If God is not righteous, salvation is not worthless.  Those who condemn God only condemn themselves.

When it comes to arguments among Believers, the same principle applies.  Would you rather be right or happy? Paul states in 1 Corinthians 6, "The very fact that you have lawsuits amongst yourselves means you have been completely defeated already.  Why not rather be wronged?  Why not rather be cheated?" Not every hill is worth dying on so for the sake of your relationships pick and choose your battles carefully.

Proverbs 12:1

"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid."


The hardest sin to correct is in fact pride.  A prideful man hates to be criticized.  A prideful man does not believe what others say to him nor will he allow himself to be humbled by those he deems "inferior" as if their status could negate the truth.  A prideful man is a foolish man who believes he is beyond reproach.  Moreover, pride is subversive.  A prideful man does not know he is prideful, nor can you tell him.  Can you see why God cannot tolerate a haughty spirit?  It is because they blaspheme the Holy Spirit else they would turn an be forgiven, and mark my words no man has ever been forgiven by God without first turning in humble repentance.

But to those who love discipline have been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  Because they have humbled themselves and do not think of themselves any more highly than they ought, God has extended them divine grace and mercy in the form of discipline.  That's right, discipline is a form of mercy when compared to God's other option for correction:  death.  God disciplines those that he loves as a father would discipline his Sons, so today if you hear God's voice do not harden your hearts, for God will exalt those in the lower places and humble those who are high.

Jeremiah 2:29

"'Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,' declares the LORD."

    When we pray, have we any right to ask God for the things we desire? Have not each one of us gone astray? Have we all not "played the harlot", as Jeremiah 2 so potently describes? It is as if a man caught cheating returns and asks her for favors. Would not the last person on Earth you would want to see be your cheating ex? Indeed we have no right to complain, or ask, let alone even to talk to God after what we've done.

    But God isn't bitter nor is his love fickle. He has loved us with an undying love that nothing in this world could break, not even sin, which was defeated on the Cross by Christ. Love accepts us, but justice transforms us. They cannot exist apart from the other. God is no fool, but righteous. Thus love requires justice to be love. He listens to the prayer of those who obey for "the prayer of the righteous man is powerful and effective" and righteousness is by faith.

    So when we pray, we do so humbly, knowing we deserve nothing but relying on God's own goodness and righteousness to care for us. We do so in faith knowing that He is willing and able to do it. How wonderful it is to be able to talk to God and how overlooked is its value! Prayer is our privilege.

    

Luke 17:10

"So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'"


Whoever thinks that they can gain favor with God through works of the Law is a fool.  So too is the man who expects praise for what he was supposed to be doing anyways.  Can anyone expect praise for doing only the bare minimum of what is required?  When the world comes to me with praises and compliments as if to puff me up, saying such things like "Oh what a good person you are!", the only honest response I could give is "I have only done what is required and no more."

If you were really honest with yourself, how much time do you waste every day?  I can't help but think that back when Christians were being persecuted for their faith it was a whole lot easier to be a Christian because we didn't distract ourselves from actually living full and meaningful lives with meaningless media entertainment.  We sacrifice lives for entertainment.  My guilt hangs heavy on my heart.  O Lord help us!

But imagine the world if we spent 15 minutes less on the internet and 15 more in prayer, an hour less on TV and an hour more reading our Bibles.  I know a bit more intimately now what it means to be saved by grace, wretched and lazy servant that I am. O Sovereign Lord, save us from ourselves!