Yesterday, Cupcake and I decided to return to the lake, after a beautiful and relaxed yesterday experience there, for round two! We didn't sit long, however, because the cold and powerful wind overpowered the sun and made its warmth negligible, driving us to seek shelter at the nearby Channies, and giving us an excuse to indulge in our curly fries cravings.
But in the short while we were by the lake, I read a passage that intrigued me. A passage, or comment if you like, about humility for a Christian.
Our purpose in life is to worship, to obey, to exalt, to trust... To love God. We labour and toil out of the respect and reverence and relationship we have for and with Him, the love of our lives, and our Lover, who returns our sentiments many uncountable folds over. In so doing, we, the branches, bear fruit for His good purpose, for His glory. Our goal is to love Him, our intentions spilling over and becoming evidential in our lives: the activities we partake in, the words we utter, the creations we give birth to, the thoughts that race through our minds... All, all of it, we purpose and strive to bring Him happiness, to bring Him glory.
Most of us are taught that true humility is to bring ourselves down to a level no better than the lowest in any caste system history has ever seen. To beat ourselves the moment we feel a tinge of pride when we excel in something, produce a work of unspeakable beauty...
"No!" he answered.
No doubt we have fallen from grace, Romans 3:23 tells us that we are a people who have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Our original purpose was to share in God's glory, and to bring God glory, to glorify Him with every pore of our being. But our sin threw a shroud over us, cloaking us in despair, uncleanliness, hopelessness and unworthiness. Romans 3:23 proceeds with verse 24. Encouraging us with the Good News, the reminder of God having already paid our ransom of the highest cost, our justification as a gift, our redemption and restoration to our original purpose.
And if we have been restored our former and rightful title, the title that God had been planning to bestow us with since the beginning of time, should we not receive it with great gratitude and thanksgiving? In what way does brow-beating, head-slapping and toe-stubbing bring glory t our glorious Father, the creator of all things, tangible and intangible?
But here is where my opinion differs slightly from that of the comment I read:
I think humility does not stop at remembering our bleak and dreary past. I think it does not stop at thinking, feeling or perhaps knowing we are unworthy of praise and recognition (though I think perhaps this cultivation of such a sentiment originates from a fear of allowing self-pride to overtake one's faculties, thereby reducing God in our eyes). No, I think true humility goes a step further than just stopping there at self-diminishment, for such an act alone can never bring glory to the Lord.
Humility is knowing our past, and so exalting God with our present and trusting Him for the future.
We know where we came from. We know full well our situation were He not to have intervened and bought us back from slavery. We know now who our Maker is and what He is like and what He likes. We know now to whom we owe our existence, from whom we received our talents and gifts. We know now our greatness, because of whom we were made in the likeness of, but we must never exalt ourselves beyond what we deserve: we are great, we were made great to be capable of tackling great deeds, but God is greater that all man's greatness combined.
Humility is going out into the world with confidence and assurance, creating and producing, giving birth to and encouraging, fighting and winning, but all the time, all the time seeking the wisest counsel that can only be God's, proceeding with the best that can only be God's, and at the end of the day, no, at every moment of the day, pointing all applause, laudation, extolment, acclamation, honour and reverence to the only One who truly deserves it because it is rightfully His - God.
God is not king over a nation of the gutless, neither is He the commandant of an army of cowards. He does not deserve such, and neither did He create such. In what manner does a people of faint hearts bring such a glorious being glory? Under what circumstances does a regiment of wimps and deserters bring such a majestic and powerful entity glory?
The victory is already His.
We face every day knowing that. We face each sunrise with gratitude and thanksgiving, with confidence and assurance.
Later that evening, when Cupcake and I were in her room talking, she said something that made me all the more sure of what I now write. She said that I am never too bad for anyone, and no one is too good for me. And I knew then that bringing God glory came not from demeaning myself. Restricting myself in that manner serves no good purpose, only to limit God's scope of work, the magnitude and variety of opportunities for Him to display His awesome power through me. No, it came from knowing who I am, where I have journeyed from, who I am walking with, and where I am headed. And that is where true humility lies: knowing who I am and knowing who God is.
'Don't let your past dictate who you are, but let it be part of who you will become.'
~ Nick Portokalos, My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
'But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.'
~ 1 Corinthians 15: 57-58
God has given us a great task. A task that only the great can embark and attempt, let alone accomplish.
'"But you will receive power when the Holy SPirit has come upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem
and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the end of the earth."'
~ Acts 1: 8
Will you shed your shame and embarrassment, your uncertainty and pride,
will you be restored to your orignal purpose, donning the cloak of humility
and let the God prove His strength and greatness in your weakness
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