SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/26/2019 9:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-5 “Humility”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
4:2
Message of the
verses: “2
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another
in love,”
I have mentioned many different
times this year that the Lord seems to working on my heart for me to understand
true humility. In my prayer time each
day I go over Romans 12:3 “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone
among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to
think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of
faith.” Paul writes this right after
begging his readers to give themselves to the Lord for service and for worship
as found in Romans 12:1-2. He wrote the
first eleven chapters of Romans about doctrine and now just as in this fourth
chapter of Ephesians he writes about how believers are to live out these doctrines. He desires us to become what we already are. In Romans 12:3 Paul begins to write about
spiritual gifts, and he does this also in 1 Corinthians 12, and we will also
see this in Ephesians chapter four, along with what Peter wrote in 1 Peter
chapter four. In both Romans and
Ephesians Paul talks about humility as believers are in need of humility to
exercise their spiritual gifts, for after all they are gifts bestowed upon them
by the Spirit of God and not something we are born with, but something we need to help in
the body of Christ. God is
certainly gracious to me in first of all laying on my heart the desire to
understand humility better, and then to teach me about humility as, I believe
that He has drawn me to study the book of Ephesians. I am thankful that God continues to work in
my heart to make me more like my Lord Jesus Christ, and it is my desire to
continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of my Lord each day. Spiritual growth is kind of like the title of
Chuck Swindoll’s book entitled “Three Steps Forward, One Step Back.” It’s slow but there is nothing better to do
in my walk with the Lord. With all of
this said I want to quote the last several paragraphs found in John MacArthur’s
commentary as he finishes up his comments on Humility.
“Humility begins with proper
self-awareness, ‘the virtue,’ said Bernard of Clairvaux, ‘by which a man
becomes conscious of his own unworthiness.’
It begins with an honest, unadorned, unretouched view of oneself. The first thing the honest person sees in
himself is sin, and therefore one of the surest marks of true humility is daily
confession of sin. ‘If we say that we
have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1
John 1:8-9). ‘We are not bold to class
or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves,’ Paul says;
‘but when they measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves with
themselves, they are without understanding’ (2 Cor. 10:12). It is not only unspiritual but unintelligent
to judge ourselves by comparison with others.
Humility takes off our rose-colored glasses and allows us to see
ourselves as we really are. We are not
‘adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves,’ says
Paul, ‘but our adequacy is from God’ (2 Cor. 3:5).
“Second humility involves
Christ-awareness. He is the only
standard by which righteousness can be judged and by which pleasing God can be
judged. Our goal should be no less than
‘to walk in the same manner as He walked’ (1 John 2:6), and Jesus Christ walked
in perfection. Only of Jesus has God
ever said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased’ (Matt. 3:17).
“Third, humility involves
God-awareness. As we study His life in
the gospels we come to see Jesus more and more in His human perfection—His
perfect humility, His perfect submission to the Father, His perfect love,
compassion, and wisdom. But beyond His
human perfection we also come to see His divine person; and His authority to
heal diseases, cast our demons, and even forgive sins. We come to see Jesus Christ as Isaiah saw the
Lord, ‘sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted’ and we want to cry out with the
seraphim, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of
His glory,’ and with the prophet himself, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live
among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts’
(Isaiah 6:1, 3, 5).
“When Paul looked at himself in
self-awareness, he saw the foremost of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). When Peter looked at himself in Christ
awareness, he said ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord’ (Luke 5:8). When Job looked at himself in God awareness,
he said, ‘Therefore I retract, I repent in dust and ashes’ (Job 42:6).
“Our business success, fame,
education wealth, personality, good works, or anything else we are or have in
ourselves counts for
nothing before God. The more we rely on and glory in
such things, the greater barrier they become to our communion with God. Every person comes before the Lord with
nothing to commend him and everything to condemn him. But when he comes with the spirit of the
penitent tax-collector, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner,’ God will
willingly and lovingly accept him. ‘For
everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall
be exalted’ (Luke 18:13-14).”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I had
never thought about Romans 12 and Ephesians 4 as both talk about spiritual
gifts after both books talk about doctrine, and then before writing about the
spiritual gifts, both begin with writing about humility. God is gracious in teaching us about humility
before He bestows His gifts upon us.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to
learn more about humility as found in both Romans 12:3 and Ephesians 4:2.
Verse that goes
along with yesterday’s quotation: “If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and
without reproach, and it will be given to Him” (James 1:5).
2/26/2019 10:47
AM
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