March 11, 2011 … Understanding Who We Are

Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: 1 – 2 - 1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

My Journal for Today: This business of HUMILITY must be important for John MacArthur to expose and discuss it so frequently in his devotional book, Strength for Today, repeating discussions of Paul’s exhortation in Eph. 4: 2 so often, last month and then again this month. And I understand the need for the redundancy personally because I struggle so to achieve the level of humility which God seeks for His children through Paul’s writing here. One cannot just declare that he/she is humble; because that would openly reveal pride. It is somewhat of a spiritual “catch-22.” And God is not demanding just “some” humility in today’s verse. No, He seeks “complete” humility.

Ouch! How could I ever get there?

Well, short of glory, I won’t! However, as a believer and a follower of Christ, I can follow Christ’s mandate in Luke 9: 23, seeking after Christlikeness, and choosing to radically pursue His attitude and lifestyle of humility as my goal for living as God’s word commands in Phil. 2: 5. I believe that was what Paul was searching for when he wrote such words as those found in Phil. 3: 13 – 14 or when he recognized his own tendency toward sin in 1st Tim. 1: 15.

SCRIPTURE: Phil. 3: 13-14 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
SCRIPTURE: 1st Tim. 1: 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst.

Of course, all of us who believe and follow Christ as Lord and Savior still have a sin nature (see Rom. 3: 23); but to the degree that I recognize that reality and press on to the goal of Christlikeness, keeping short accounts of my sin and confessing when I’m convicted by the Holy Spirit (see 1st John 1: 9 and James 5: 16), I can expect that God, the Holy Spirit, is going to fulfill His promise of Phil. 1: 6 … to shape and complete me into the mold of my Lord and Savior. And as long as I keep God, The Son, as my Standard, not comparing myself to others (see 2nd Cor. 10: 12) as it is so easy to do at times, I will always see MY light in the Light of God’s Holiness – an ever humbling mirror for my attitude and way of life.

My Prayer Today: When I seek You, Lord, I am humbled. Amen