The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"Humility and Strength"
Humility proceeds from strength, that is, from the power of God known, received, and embraced as true enabling and ability.
"God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6).
One can seemingly possess ability, confidence, and place in the world, thereby appearing to be strong and confidently able. However, only those who humbly receive the grace of God can be accounted as genuinely "strong in the power of His might," and thus truly able (Ephesians 6:10). The seemingly strong actually live by the God-given "life and breath and all things" necessary for all created beings to exist and act (Acts 17:25). They erroneously perceive themselves as their own arbiters and actualizers of life, living as supplicants of their Maker without knowing and recognizing their complete lack of strength apart from Him. "Ye rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?" (Amos 6:13).
In stark contrast, the humble recognize reality. They know they did not create themselves, they did not make themselves into whatever they are, and their very existence requires the Christ who "upholds all things by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1:3). They rightly answer the question, "What hast thou that thou didst not received?" (I Corinthians 4:7). They do not live passively, or wait for God to move their hearts, minds, hands, and feet as if merely programmed machines. They nevertheless realize and affirm that if God withholds grace, their ability ends instantly. "Without Me, ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). This is strength of the actual and eternal kind, the strength that grants confidence even as it humbles. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up" (James 4:10).
The proud, the haughty, and the cruel of the world are actually the weakest among us, regardless of how strong they may appear to be. All too soon for them, their place will pass and their true condition will be exposed. The humble await another destiny altogether, a realm of light they will enter through the grace and mercy of the One who Himself epitomized the very essence of humility during His earthly lifetime. In the Lord Jesus, humility and strength walked hand in hand, heart in heart, as it will in all whose strength is humility, and whose humility is strength.
I met a traveller from an antique land, who said,
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert.
Near them, on the sand, half sunk, a shattered visage lies,
whose frown and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
tell that its sculptor well those passions read
which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
the hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear,
My name is Ozymandias, king of kings.
Look on my works and despair!
Nothing beside remains.
Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
the lone and level sands stretch far away.
("Ozymandias" - Percy Bysshe Shelley)
"My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad."
(Psalm 34:2)
"And upon a set day, Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a great shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory. And he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost."
(Acts 12:21-23)
Weekly Memory Verse
Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
(Philippians 1:6)
7489
No comments:
Post a Comment