Humility and faith.
How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? John 5:44.
In a message I recently heard, the speaker compared the blessings of the deeper Christian life to goods displayed in a shop window. You can see them clearly, but you can't reach out and take them. If someone told you to simply stretch out your hand and take them, you might answer, "I can't. there's a thick pane of glass in the way.
In the same way, many Christians can clearly see the promises of perfect peace and rest, of overflowing love and joy, of constant communion with God and a fruitful life.
Yet, they feel as if something is blocking them from truly receiving these blessings. What is that barrier?
Nothing but pride.
The promises made to faith are completely free and absolutely certain.
The invitations to believe and the encouragements are strong.
The power of God which faith depends on is near and freely offered.
So if we are not receiving the blessings, it must be something that is blocking faith itself.
According to Jesus Christ in this verse, that something is pride.
How can you believe when you receive glory from one another?
When we realize that pride and faith are completely opposed in their very nature, we will understand that humility and faith are deeply connected.
You cannot have more true faith than you have true humility.
It's possible to have strong mental belief and confidence in spiritual truths while still holding on to pride in the heart.
But that pride makes real living faith, faith that moves the heart of God, impossible.
Just think for a moment about what faith really is.
Isn't it the confession of our own nothingness and helplessness?
The surrender of ourselves and the waiting on God to act.
Faith at its core is the most humbling of acts.
It means accepting our place as those who have nothing, can do nothing, and can claim nothing except what grace gives.
Humility is simply the heart's readiness to live fully dependent on God.
Every trace of pride, whether it's self-seeking, self-will, self-confidence or self-exaltation, only strengthens the self-life.
And the self-life cannot enter or receive the kingdom because it refuses to let God be everything.
Faith is the spiritual sense by which we see and receive the blessings of heaven.
It looks for the glory that comes only from God, which can only be found where God is all in all.
As long as we accept praise from one another, as long as we love and seek and guard our own honor and reputation, we are not truly seeking and cannot receive the glory that comes from God.
Pride makes faith impossible.
Salvation comes through the cross, through Christ crucified.
To be saved is to be joined with the crucified Christ in the spirit of his cross.
It means delighting in and sharing in the humility of Jesus Christ.
Is it any wonder our faith is so weak when pride still rules in our hearts?
And we have hardly even learned to desire or ask for humility as one of the most necessary and blessed parts of salvation.
Humility and faith are more closely connected in scripture than many realize. Look at the life of Jesus Christ.
There are two times he spoke of someone having great faith.
The first was the centurion about whom Jesus said, "I have not found so great faith. No, not in Israel." Yet the centurion had said, "I am not worthy that you should come under my roof."
The second was the Canaanite woman to whom Jesus said, "Oh woman, great is your faith." She had accepted being called a dog and replied, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs." In both cases, it was deep humility coming before Jesus Christ as nothing that cleared the way for great faith.
True humility removes every barrier to trust and fears only the possibility of dishonoring God by not trusting him completely.
Brother, sister, is this not the reason for failure in our pursuit of holiness?
Could it be that without knowing it, pride and self still held ground in us, making our consecration and our faith shallow and short-lived?
We didn't realize how deeply self was still at work, or how only God, by his presence and his power, could drive it out.
We didn't understand that nothing but the new divine nature fully replacing the old self could make us truly humble.
We failed to see that absolute constant, and all-encompassing humility must be the foundation of every prayer, every approach to God and every relationship with others.
Without such humility, we might as well try to see without eyes or live without breathing as believe in God, come near to him, or dwell in his love without a deeply humble and lowly heart.
Brother, sister, have we not made a mistake by striving so hard to believe while pride in our old self was still trying to take hold of God's blessings and riches for its own sake?
No wonder we struggled to believe.
Let us take a different path.
Let us first humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. He will lift us up. The cross, the death, and the grave into which Jesus Christ humbled himself were the way to his glory with the Father.
They are our way, too. Let our one desire and our earnest prayer be to be humbled with him and like him.
Let us willingly accept whatever humbles us before God or before others. This alone is the path to the glory of God.
You may feel inclined to ask a question.
I have spoken of some who have rich spiritual experiences or are used to bring blessing to others and yet clearly lack humility.
You might wonder, do they not show that they have real, even strong faith, though they still seek too much the praise that comes from people?
There are several ways to answer. But the main point for us here is this.
They do indeed have a measure of faith. And according to that measure, along with the specific gifts given to them, they are able to bring blessing to others.
Yet even in those blessings, the full work of faith is hindered by the lack of humility.
The fruit is often shallow or short-lived because they have not become nothing, empty enough for God to be everything.
A deeper humility would surely lead to a deeper, more lasting blessing.
The Holy Spirit, not only working through them in power, but living in them in the fullness of his grace, especially his humility, would then flow through them to others.
He would impart to their converts a life of holiness, strength, and faithfulness, which is still too rarely seen.
How can you believe who receive glory from one another?
Brother, sister, nothing can free you from the desire for human praise or from the hurt, frustration or anger when it is withheld except giving yourself holy to seek the glory that comes from God alone.
Let the glory of the all glorious God mean everything to you.
Then you will be set free from the craving for the glory of men, from the craving for the glory of women and from the glory of self.
And you will be content, even joyful, to be nothing.
From that place of nothingness, your faith will grow strong, bringing glory to God.
And the deeper you sink in humility before him, the nearer he wil come to fulfill every desire of your faith.
Chapter 10 - Humility and Death to Self (continue here)
No comments:
Post a Comment