"Jesus Washing Peter's Feet" by Ford Madox BrownYour attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God
did not count equality with God something to be grasped
but made Himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man
He humbled himself and became obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
- Philippians 2:5-8
When the woman saw that the fruit was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise, she took it and ate it. And she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he also ate of the fruit.
It started right there in the garden, this tendency for us to be captivated by the outward, the visible and the tangible. And mankind today is attracted to make choices that are easy and superficial...to be impressed by external appearances, "the outward show of things, without inquiring into their real value" (C.H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom).
The desire for the pride of life, to become wise, is a lust for life. It is an overwhelming desire for power or self-recognition.
Henri Nouwen writes that when God looks at our world He weeps because the lust for power has entrapped and corrupted the human soul.
We have at one point or another all thought up strategies for our survival when we sensed our safety or comfort zone was being threatened. Strategies to fight back, strategies to keep our heads above water.
Jesus gives us only one strategy. Give it up. Let go. Open up your hand and let your last coin drop.
A theology of weakness is all about fighting in the opposite spirit.
As Paul says, the weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. The kingdom that Jesus came to establish is an upside down kingdom. The authority that God uses is not the authority from above, but authority from below - servanthood.
Jesus taught us, Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant. (Matthew 20:26)
This is indeed a mindset very different from how the world views greatness and power.
We've been so used to seeing God in the earthquake, in the wind, and in the fire.
But there are times when God wants to lead us to a higher place. The only way for us to reach this place is to allow God to liberate us from the container of our previous experiences.
Earthquakes, fires, and storms -- these are the signs of our times. They depict power, they stand for recognition.
Friend, is God inviting you to live out a theology of weakness? Could it be that He is calling you to go through the uncharted territory that leads closer to His heart? You've never passed this way before. And to enter that place we must learn to recognize God's nearness where there are no storms or earthquakes to capture our attention.
The noise and the bustle, the frantic activity, the deadlines, the programs, the strategic plans, the call of the seemingly urgent issues confronting our lives - these are the earthquakes and the storms that drive our lives. We have been used to serving God this way.
But God will never fight for our attention. He wants us to seek Him. To sense the "holy quiet" of God, to hear His gentle blowing, we have to quiet down.
Martha, Martha, Jesus said, you are worried and upset about many things. You are upset, you are torn apart, you are fragmented. But only one tihng is needful, Come sit at my feet. Don't miss out on what is really important.
Jesus knew His purpose. It was to obey God. And this obedience required that He be emptied of self-life. No goals, no agenda, no motives apart from that of His heavenly Father's.
In our world of great pressure and continual distractions, the attention of our hearts must rise to the invisible world of God's Spirit. He knows the need of our hearts, and He issues this invitation to us: Be still and know that I am God.
The Israelites had to be taken out of slavery and brought into the wilderness that they may be mentored in the ways of God. From God's chosen people and royal priesthood, they had been reduced by Egyptian taskmasters to a nation of grumblers, people who lived only for the visible and the temporal.
They needed God to change their slave mentality.
But righteousness cannot be legislated. And holy living cannot be feigned. For Satan had so corrupted the human soul it has to be given time and gently taught how to listen to the still small voice of the Spirit.
Be still and know that I am God. Learn what being a servant in my kingdom is all about. Learn what it means to serve My purposes, and not your self.
This is the kind of life that Jesus came to show us.
God said to Ezekiel that He will remove our hearts of stone and give us a heart of flesh. The law engraved on stone tablets is powerless to change us. God wants to write His law on hearts of flesh.
Only a strategic encounter with the living Lord can cause the law to be written on our hearts. We need a face-to-face, spirit-to-spirit encounter with the Living Lord.
And for this to take place, we need to position ourselves for it.
Take the same position that Jesus did. Adopt the same attitude, Paul tells us. Jesus was in very nature God, yet He did not count equality with God something to hold on to.
Jesus was so secure about who He was in the Father's eyes. He did not have to prove anything. Satan tempted Him, "If You are God, command these stones to turn to bread."
If You are God.
But Jesus knew who He was. He knew that nothing needed to be proven to anybody.
Francis Frangipane says that Jesus lived for only one thing -- the pleasure of the Father. He was not a man-pleaser, He was a God-pleaser.
He made Himself nothing. The God of the universe made Himself nothing. In a world where nearly everyone wants to begin with himself, or herself, this is quite a revelation.
It is easier to believe that God has destined us for great things, and that once we grab hold of our destiny we can march off with it, and we can accomplish the purposes of God.
Yes it IS true -- God has destined us for great things, but the path is narrow, and the gateway is low, one stoops to enter in.
This gateway is called servanthood.
Servanthood is a kingdom principle. I heard it once said that "It is difficult to teach about kingdom principles to people with a democratic mindset."
How true, indeed!
In a kingdom, we bow down to a King. The King owns everything, even his subjects. Yet because God's kingdom is an upside down kingdom, we hear Him say to us, "Do not fear little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
It is our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom!
It is a kingdom that we don not even have to strive or struggle for. All that is being asked of us is to obey our King and to humble ourselves before Him.
To live a theology of weakness is to live a life of obedience, a life of servanthood. As Jesus demonstrated with His own life, humility is the starting point.
Humility is the door opener to God's grace.
Humility allows us to open up our hand and let go of our last coin. That last coin could represent anything we are holding on to for our self protection and our self-actualization.
How much easier indeed to hold on to our rights, and our positions. But it is not the way of the cross.
Jesus is showing us the example. Getting "saved" is only the first step. It doesn't stop there. We have to be tutored and brought up in the ways of the kingdom.
"For too long the world has seen the church as proud, self-righteous, and unrepentant." I came across that line in one of my readings. And it struck me, because sadly, it is an accurate analysis.
At the core of the nature of Christ is His humility. We will come face to face with many facets of Christ's character as we mature, but I believe none is more beautiful that His meekness.
Learn of me, Jesus says, for I am meek and lowly of heart.
Though He was God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. He chose to be weak.
"...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28
My prayer:
Jesus, how often do I serve others with the hidden motive of promoting myself, that I may look good in the eyes of others? Forgive me!
Help me be like You in Your humility and selflessness - in my thoughts, my words, and in my actions.
Who, being in very nature God
did not count equality with God something to be grasped
but made Himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man
He humbled himself and became obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
- Philippians 2:5-8
When the woman saw that the fruit was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise, she took it and ate it. And she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he also ate of the fruit.
It started right there in the garden, this tendency for us to be captivated by the outward, the visible and the tangible. And mankind today is attracted to make choices that are easy and superficial...to be impressed by external appearances, "the outward show of things, without inquiring into their real value" (C.H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom).
The desire for the pride of life, to become wise, is a lust for life. It is an overwhelming desire for power or self-recognition.
Henri Nouwen writes that when God looks at our world He weeps because the lust for power has entrapped and corrupted the human soul.
We have at one point or another all thought up strategies for our survival when we sensed our safety or comfort zone was being threatened. Strategies to fight back, strategies to keep our heads above water.
Jesus gives us only one strategy. Give it up. Let go. Open up your hand and let your last coin drop.
A theology of weakness is all about fighting in the opposite spirit.
As Paul says, the weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. The kingdom that Jesus came to establish is an upside down kingdom. The authority that God uses is not the authority from above, but authority from below - servanthood.
Jesus taught us, Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant. (Matthew 20:26)
This is indeed a mindset very different from how the world views greatness and power.
We've been so used to seeing God in the earthquake, in the wind, and in the fire.
But there are times when God wants to lead us to a higher place. The only way for us to reach this place is to allow God to liberate us from the container of our previous experiences.
Earthquakes, fires, and storms -- these are the signs of our times. They depict power, they stand for recognition.
Friend, is God inviting you to live out a theology of weakness? Could it be that He is calling you to go through the uncharted territory that leads closer to His heart? You've never passed this way before. And to enter that place we must learn to recognize God's nearness where there are no storms or earthquakes to capture our attention.
The noise and the bustle, the frantic activity, the deadlines, the programs, the strategic plans, the call of the seemingly urgent issues confronting our lives - these are the earthquakes and the storms that drive our lives. We have been used to serving God this way.
But God will never fight for our attention. He wants us to seek Him. To sense the "holy quiet" of God, to hear His gentle blowing, we have to quiet down.
Martha, Martha, Jesus said, you are worried and upset about many things. You are upset, you are torn apart, you are fragmented. But only one tihng is needful, Come sit at my feet. Don't miss out on what is really important.
Jesus knew His purpose. It was to obey God. And this obedience required that He be emptied of self-life. No goals, no agenda, no motives apart from that of His heavenly Father's.
In our world of great pressure and continual distractions, the attention of our hearts must rise to the invisible world of God's Spirit. He knows the need of our hearts, and He issues this invitation to us: Be still and know that I am God.
The Israelites had to be taken out of slavery and brought into the wilderness that they may be mentored in the ways of God. From God's chosen people and royal priesthood, they had been reduced by Egyptian taskmasters to a nation of grumblers, people who lived only for the visible and the temporal.
They needed God to change their slave mentality.
But righteousness cannot be legislated. And holy living cannot be feigned. For Satan had so corrupted the human soul it has to be given time and gently taught how to listen to the still small voice of the Spirit.
Be still and know that I am God. Learn what being a servant in my kingdom is all about. Learn what it means to serve My purposes, and not your self.
This is the kind of life that Jesus came to show us.
God said to Ezekiel that He will remove our hearts of stone and give us a heart of flesh. The law engraved on stone tablets is powerless to change us. God wants to write His law on hearts of flesh.
Only a strategic encounter with the living Lord can cause the law to be written on our hearts. We need a face-to-face, spirit-to-spirit encounter with the Living Lord.
And for this to take place, we need to position ourselves for it.
Take the same position that Jesus did. Adopt the same attitude, Paul tells us. Jesus was in very nature God, yet He did not count equality with God something to hold on to.
Jesus was so secure about who He was in the Father's eyes. He did not have to prove anything. Satan tempted Him, "If You are God, command these stones to turn to bread."
If You are God.
But Jesus knew who He was. He knew that nothing needed to be proven to anybody.
Francis Frangipane says that Jesus lived for only one thing -- the pleasure of the Father. He was not a man-pleaser, He was a God-pleaser.
He made Himself nothing. The God of the universe made Himself nothing. In a world where nearly everyone wants to begin with himself, or herself, this is quite a revelation.
It is easier to believe that God has destined us for great things, and that once we grab hold of our destiny we can march off with it, and we can accomplish the purposes of God.
Yes it IS true -- God has destined us for great things, but the path is narrow, and the gateway is low, one stoops to enter in.
This gateway is called servanthood.
Servanthood is a kingdom principle. I heard it once said that "It is difficult to teach about kingdom principles to people with a democratic mindset."
How true, indeed!
In a kingdom, we bow down to a King. The King owns everything, even his subjects. Yet because God's kingdom is an upside down kingdom, we hear Him say to us, "Do not fear little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
It is our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom!
It is a kingdom that we don not even have to strive or struggle for. All that is being asked of us is to obey our King and to humble ourselves before Him.
To live a theology of weakness is to live a life of obedience, a life of servanthood. As Jesus demonstrated with His own life, humility is the starting point.
Humility is the door opener to God's grace.
Humility allows us to open up our hand and let go of our last coin. That last coin could represent anything we are holding on to for our self protection and our self-actualization.
How much easier indeed to hold on to our rights, and our positions. But it is not the way of the cross.
Jesus is showing us the example. Getting "saved" is only the first step. It doesn't stop there. We have to be tutored and brought up in the ways of the kingdom.
"For too long the world has seen the church as proud, self-righteous, and unrepentant." I came across that line in one of my readings. And it struck me, because sadly, it is an accurate analysis.
At the core of the nature of Christ is His humility. We will come face to face with many facets of Christ's character as we mature, but I believe none is more beautiful that His meekness.
Learn of me, Jesus says, for I am meek and lowly of heart.
Though He was God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. He chose to be weak.
"...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28
My prayer:
Jesus, how often do I serve others with the hidden motive of promoting myself, that I may look good in the eyes of others? Forgive me!
Help me be like You in Your humility and selflessness - in my thoughts, my words, and in my actions.
5 comments:
I truly, TRULY needed to read this today. My flesh had been pricked and while I had not acted on it outwardly, I had allowed it to begin tof fester immediately on the inside.
I'm choosing God's way, and before I even read this I asked the Father to forgive them for they know not what they do. And unless they turn from their wickedness and accept Him as their Lord and Savior and realize their own short comings, they will reap as they spend eternity in hell. I pray that they turn around....
Thank you for reminding me that I want a life of "weakness"...that theology!
Lovingly,
Yolanda
Dear Lidj,
While reading I thought; "She is so right." Then I began to think of the churches as we know them in Europe. Heavy bastions of power. Down the history often ill using this power and laying heavy burdens upon the people.
I felt sad.
Then your words struck me once more.
I just cannot take upon me the sad and unflattering story of all Christianity.
I am responsible for my own doings, for my attitude and my servant mind.
Well, I don't have much to flatter about that way either.
"Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly at heart."
I'll have to begin there, once more.
From Felisol
I was reminded of Gail's post when I read this when she spoke of Jesus withdrawing to be alone with God as the time drew near ...He knew where to draw His strength..He needed to be in His Father's Presence..how much more do we..instead we insist on carrying on in our own strength...
in my own life, He has overturned what I used to see as my undeniable strengths..no more..nothing I deem as 'my own' is ever a strength in God's eyes...
all for Him...and Him for all..
have a blessed Easter, dear sister,
Love, Sita
Recently, I have come to be of the opinion that humility is one of the most beautiful things in the world. It is also something that I have often struggled with knowing exactly how to define its absence or presence in my own life. God has blessed me with many opportunities to use the gifts that He has given me. Therefore, I learned at a young age to be confident in what I could do.
As I grew older, however, I began to be concerned with whether or not I had become prideful. How, I wondered, do I know whether I am simply being confident and aware of facts regarding what I can accomplish, or whether pride has entered in? How can I know I am depending on God, when I also know that He has given me natural gifts to accomplish what I am being asked to do?
I think I found my answer recently, and it works just as well for areas of my life in which I am NOT naturally proficient. It's what you mentioned here: We have at one point or another all thought up strategies for our survival when we sensed our safety or comfort zone was being threatened.I realized that I can discover whether I am depending on myself or God, by looking at whether I am busy creating backup strategies to cover myself, just in case it doesn't work the way I think it will. If I am trusting in God to do something, then I will be spending that energy and attention listing for His direction...I will be trusting in His grace if things don't turn out the way I think they will, or that I want them to.
Now to walk that out...
Hi Lidj! Back for more. :)
I like Katie's comment. I know exactly what she's talking about (having come from the same family and all).
I find this post very timely. I was thinking just today how we as humans tend to create a list of 'things God wants us to do,' and if we're not living up to that (or if someone else isn't living up to it, more to the point) we expend our energies on pointing it out, fixing it, focusing on what needs to be changed, etc. Yet, when it really comes down to it, God's heart is very simple. Know Me. And in that, too, letting ourselves be known by Him. Very simple. But it requires relationship. Something ... which somehow is harder for us to come by than a rule-following, 'yes sir, I did that,' report-to-the-boss kind of 'relationship' to God. Quite challenging. But so simple. So beautiful.
Thanks Lidj, for being faithful to post. I will be attempting to catch up on all these posts I've missed. :]
Post a Comment