Intentional Humility
“The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility.” -Proverbs 15:33
Have you ever wondered what it really means to be humble? How does a truly humble person look and act? How do I respond when someone publicly compliments me on something I have done? What are my actions and emotions when confronted by a co-worker or colleague with a mistake I have made? How do I react when my spouse or someone close to me says something that hurts or offends me?
I am moved by Andrew Murray’s take on humility: “Man’s simple consent to let God be all, and to surrender himself to God’s working alone.” As an apprentice of Jesus, we are called to live a life centred in recognition that everything we have and all that we are has been given us by God. The humility and sense of nothingness that arises from this joyful ‘laying down of self’ is not something that God can simply impart to us (’Lord, grant me humility’), and it is not something that we ‘bring’ to him. It just is. It is the natural order of creation. The lives of humility and meekness to which we are called by Jesus are the only natural response to our simple acknowledgement of our position in God’s creation and our willingness to yield authority to God.
The depth of this profound truth is easily missed. Many of us have been followers of Jesus for several years. Perhaps like me, you have known the Lord for a long time and are only just beginning to realize that the meekness and ‘lowliness of heart’ spoken of by Jesus (Matt. 11:29) is meant to be a distinguishing feature of a disciple.
Humility does not often come naturally. Like most virtues, it must be desired, learned, and practiced. An effective practice to learn humility might be to spend time with a Christian who you feel models Christ-like humility. We might also spend time in meditation on the very clear and numerous lessons Jesus gave his disciples on humility. You could also search out some of the devotional classics that Christians have been encouraged by over the centuries, and learn from the spiritual ‘greats’.
“Is it any wonder that the Christian life is so often feeble and fruitless, when the very root of the Christ-life is neglected, is unknown? Is it any wonder that the joy of salvation is so little felt, when the one thing in which Christ found it and brings it is so little sought? We must seek a humility that rests in nothing less than the end and death of self; that gives up all the honor of men, as Jesus did, to seek the honor that comes from God alone; that absolutely makes and considers itself nothing so that God may be all, so that the Lord alone may be exalted.”
-Andrew Murray, Humility, p. 27.
Are you dissatisfied with your depth of relationship with Jesus? Do you reflect on your life and wonder if you are being effective as a disciple, and if God is actually ‘using’ you? Thank the Lord he has given you this dissatisfaction (instead of lukewarm apathy) with the present state of things, and ask him to teach you humility. Begin by deciding to know nothing more than Christ and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering. Don’t be discouraged when you find this difficult. Ask the Lord to show you the areas of your life over which you have firm control and have not surrendered to ‘God’s working alone’. Be prepared to no longer demand that people treat you as you think you deserve to be treated.
For Further Study/Meditation: Gen 3:5; Phil 2:5-9; Col 2:7, 19; Luke 22:27.
Resource:
Humility, by Andrew Murray. He ministered in the towns and villages of Africa for many years, and is widely known for his prolific pastoral writings and publications. He lived from 1828-1917.
The missing link between ‘spiritual formation’ and evangelism
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Written: |
10/15/09 |
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Published: |
11/1/09 |
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Bibliography: |
Beyond Belief: Christianity for the Sake of Others, by Todd Hunter |
“Apologetics, it seems [from the 'emergent' philosophy/trend], is dead. But I’m not buying it—at least, not completely. I’ll buy the fact that the dictionary definition of apologetics might have fallen on hard times—using formal logic, a systematic, argumentative discourse offering positive proof for or defences of Christianity. It is true that people are tired of the worst forms of apologetics—being sold, spun, and jerked around by selective logic. But that doesn’t mean no one cares to know what is real, true, and valid. It means that today, many but not all, people access truth and reality in ways that don’t match up with formal apologetics. A new form of apology, a new defence and explanation, is emerging. Witnessing a God-inspired, consistent life of creative goodness is, in my view, the new apologetic.
I suggest that creatively doing good for others is effective because lots of people today are not asking, ‘Is this true?’ Rather, they tend to ask, ‘Is it real, genuine, and making a difference in your life? Are you becoming a better person because of your faith and the presence of God in your life? Do others experience you and your pursuit of religion as good for them?’ Seekers, at least those paying attention, have known too many people in their families, at work, or around their neighbourhoods who become worse as they pursue religion. Such people often become the office nag, the quarrelling know-it-all, or the judgemental, gossipy neighbour.
Often apologetics is believed to fit into a similar pushy, bossy mold. This doesn’t mean truth is irrelevant, or that Christian doctrine is neither here nor there, but people access those things in different ways today than they have in the last few decades. And they often do so in a different order than might be expected. Often seeing that Christianity works, they then begin to look into the various truths associated with Christianity.”
This passage stirs something deep in me…for a long while I have wrestled with two aspects of the life of an apprentice of Jesus that I have seen as separate and unrelated: spiritual formation and evangelism. I now see a clear link between them.
As we are continually, measurably transformed into Christlikeness and seek to live for the sake of others, this is in itself a primary form of evangelism—as primary as being ready to ‘give a defense/explanation’ of the gospel in classical apologetics style. People today, quite rightly, want to see something genuine and authentic about the positive benefits now of being a Christian. If we focus on becoming the kind of person who displays the power and freedom of the transformed life of an apprentice of Jesus, evangelism then becomes simply an expression of living our lives.
As an ‘evangelical’, when I think of evangelism I move immediately to the apologetics framework (which I believe is of value), but emphasise less perhaps why Christianity matters, and do not focus on the power of a genuinely transformed life affecting those around me.
Spiritual formation, then, or intentional apprenticeship to Jesus and growth in Christlikeness, is inextricably linked to sustainable evangelism. This is a game-changer for me. Both are inherently of value, and worth intentionally practicing, but I now see them as complementary parts of my walk with Jesus and not separate or fragmented.
Learning to be watchful
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Written: |
7/19/09 |
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Published: |
8/24/09 |
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Bibliography: |
A Beginner’s Introduction to the Philokalia, by Anthony Coniaris. |
In Luke 10:38-42, Mary and Martha have Jesus over for dinner and we see Jesus provide us with an extraordinary insight into the way He prioritises everyday and ‘ordinary’ life.
In this story, I resonate deeply with Martha, who could see only the work to be done in front of her—and went and did it. A statement with profound implications for how I live my life in the everyday is Jesus’ response to her: “Martha, Martha…you are worried about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, and Mary has chosen it.”
I struggle with Jesus’ words in this story…when I am at a period in my life full of work and commitments with every half hour of the day scheduled for something, my natural inclination in reading this story is to say ‘Lazy Mary…at least Martha is getting the work done.’
At other times, like now, I am stirred by the Lord’s gentle hand on my shoulder, speaking right to the heart of the matter—Andy, Andy, you are worried about so many things…but only one thing is necessary…’.
I struggle with the notion that, in my eyes, Martha is doing the ‘real’ work, but in Jesus’ eyes, it is Mary who has her priorities straight. Can spending time with Jesus be ‘real work’?
This notion of what makes up ‘reality’, or ‘real work’ that has deep implications my life. In the Christian life, our reality is our calling to have one foot planted in the natural world, and one foot planted in the supernatural. It is in the balance, or the tension of these two realities that the follower of Jesus lives.
Monastics from the Orthodox stream of Christianity call these ‘many things’ that distract logismoi, or white noise. They are “a train of thoughts that befog and pollute the mind so that bit by bit we move from reality to fantasy”, where, in this instance reality = the tension of living in both the natural and supernatural worlds, and fantasy = the soul-killing belief that it is only our effort, our ‘work’, getting our tasks accomplished that really matters.
Jesus, teach me that spending time with you and prayer is real work.
I will take the ring to Mordor…though I do not know the way
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Written: |
4/13/09 |
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Published: |
4/13/09 |
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Bibliography: |
The Fellowship of the Ring, “Three is Company”, p. 100. |
“‘As for where I am going,’ said Frodo, ‘it would be difficult to give that away, for I have no clear idea myself, yet.’
‘…you must go,’ said Gandalf, ‘or at least set out, either North, South, West, or East—and the direction should certainly not be known.’
‘I have been so taken up with the thoughts of leaving Bag End, and of saying farewell, that I have never considered the direction,’ said Frodo. ‘For where am I to go? And by what shall I steer? What is to be my quest? Bilbo went to find a treasure, there and back again; but I go to lose one, and not return, as far as I can see.’
‘But you cannot see very far,’ said Gandalf. ‘Neither can I. It may be your task to find the Cracks of Doom, but that quest may be for others: I do not know.’”
This small conversation between Frodo and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings gives me great peace—in it I hear the echoes of my own life story as a follower of Jesus. Jesus leads me usually with a nudge out the door—the direction I am to take is not crystal clear, I do not have clarity on exactly what I am to do and how to do it. But I sense in my heart that the Lord desires me to move, now. And so I obey—trusting that as I am moving, he will show me the next step.
The complete fulfilment of my work with Jesus in the Kingdom of God may be for someone else to complete, or to take further, but I am not called to be concerned with the overall plan, or end game—I am learning that it must be enough for me to simply know the next step, and to trust that Jesus will show me where and when to take the step after that.
I often hear people speak with great confidence that the Lord told them to do this, or led them to do that—and I wonder at their confidence. My experience of hearing God’s voice and moving in obedience is one of much less certainty. I am learning to have confidence not in my ability to hear God’s voice, but in God’s ability to get his point across to me when he needs to.
Be focussed on prayer
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Written: |
1/5/04 |
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Published: |
4/4/09 |
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Bibliography: |
“A Letter on Prayer”, The Cloud of Unknowing |
I find it difficult to remain focussed on prayer at times, and find it useful to look to the giants of the faith in the past for their lessons learned on how to live a life of prayer. The unknown 14th century author of The Cloud of Unknowing writes:
“Since you have asked me how you should control your feelings when you are praying, let me give you the best answer I can.
Let me start by saying that the best thing you can do when you start to pray, however long or short your time of prayer is to be, is to tell yourself, and mean it, that you are going to die at the end of your prayer. I am not joking when I tell you this: just think how impossible it is to tell yourself…that you are certain of living longer than the time your prayer takes.
…you will see that is quite safe to tell yourself that you are going to die, and I advise you to do so. If you do, you will find that the combination of your general sense of your own unworthiness combined with this special feeling of how short a time you have left to make a firm purpose of amendment, will concentrate your mind wonderfully on a proper fear of the Lord.
You will find this feeling taking real hold of your heart, unless (which God forbid), you manage to coax and cajole your false heart of flesh with the false security that you are going to live longer. It may well be that you are going to live beyond the time of your prayer, but it is always a false comfort to promise yourself that this will be the case and to persuade your heart to rely on it. This is because only God can know the truth of the matter, and all you can do is rely blindly on his will, without having any certainty beyond this for a moment, for the time is takes to blink an eye.”
I will give this a try.
