Monday, September 29, 2008

Pride and Resistance;Humility and Grace

I've been thinking about this. James 4:6b says,"God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."

Again the question is not,'Who's right?' or 'Who's wrong?'
We can be so right that we are wrong,and experience the resistance of God,
and we can humble ourselves when we are wrong and be given grace that makes us right.
Right with God, anyway.
We can also be right and be humble about it and experience the grace of God.
We can be wrong and be prideful in it and experience the resistance of God.
We can be the ones who have done it right and be pointing our finger at the one's who are wrong and God will resist us.
We can have totally messed up our life and the lives of others and if we humble ourselves before God, we will receive His grace.

I hate to be wrong. I hate to mess up. But I think I need to stop worrying about whether I am doing it right and walk with humility before God and wait to see what He wants me to do. Wait. Listen. Be still. Don't respond to the loudest voice but to the still small voice. Don't jump into the crisis at hand. Don't defend myself. Wait. Listen. Be still.

We can look and look but not once will we find where Jesus operated in any level of pride. He said that He could do nothing apart from His Father. This is probably the key to humility; To acknowledge that we can do nothing apart from God and that any good that we have is His goodness. Jesus didn't come to be a Difference Maker. He came to lay down His life and to do what His Father was doing. We want to be people of influence and do great things. We wear ourselves out by striving to make a difference in our world. But Jesus, knowing where He had come from and where He was going, took a towel, and washed His disciple's feet.

But Jesus, knowing where He has come from and where He is going, takes a towel, and washes my feet. Will I receive His humble service?

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace;
Freely bestowed on all who believe
You who are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?

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