Archives for September 2019

Humility is not the way of our world. Each of us is constantly encouraged by our culture to think or ourselves, have things the way we want them, make the best impression, spend much on pleasing ourselves and looking successful and so on.

The advertising industry relies heavily on making people feel dissatisfied and then directing them to spend in certain ways in order to resolve those feelings. So people in our culture are overwhelmingly self focused and urged to stay that way.

In that environment it is easy for Christians to be caught up in that self focused thinking and to automatically sideline God in their lives, putting achievement of cultural values first.

Yet the Bible calls us to live humbly before God.

“God has shown you, mankind, what is right, and what the LORD requires of you. It is to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may exalt you in due time.” 1Peter 5:6

“As God’s elect, holy and greatly loved, activate a heart of compassion, kindness, humility of mind, meekness, patient enduring” Colossians 3:12

That call to humility makes us misfits in our own culture.

As a movie trailer might put it …. “In a world where self is king one group of people live in defiance of all self interest and humbly bow their lives before an unseen God. What will become of them?”

How would being humble before God make you a misfit? Here are some possibilities.

Imagine God asked you to do something or to live in a manner that cut across the cultural norm. That would make you a misfit. 

Maybe that would be to sell all you have and give it to the poor.

“Jesus told him, To be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will create for yourself treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” Matthew 19:21

Maybe it would be to leave your comfortable environment and go to a place where your quality of life is compromised, such as the mission-field.

“Now the Lord told Abram, Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to a land I will show you” Genesis 12:1

Maybe it would be to forgive a great debt of money you could use to make yourself happy.

“The master summoned the servant and declared, You wicked servant! I forgave all your debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?” Matthew 18:32,33

Maybe it would be to invite into your home those people no-one else wants to have around.

“When you put on a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, for they cannot repay you” Luke 14:13,14

Maybe it would be to devote yourself to helping the helpless, as Job did.

“I served as eyes for the blind and feet for the lame. I was a father to the needy, And I investigated the case which I did not know.” Job 29:15,16

Maybe it would be to remain faithful to an unfaithful spouse, because that’s what you promised in your wedding vows.

“The LORD God of Israel says he hates divorce and when one covers violence with his garment, says the LORD of hosts. Therefore watch your spirit, that you don’t deal treacherously.” Malachi 2:16

Maybe it’s that you respect your parents’ wishes and follow their guidance, even when you want to go your own way.

“Honour your father and mother (which is the first commandment carrying a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long on the earth.” Ephesians 6:2,3

How would it go if you said to people, “I’m sorry, I can’t join you in your plans because my God doesn’t allow it.”

Some might react as if you are accusing them. So I like the statement one dad came up with for his children: “Others may do those things, but we may not”. That way there was no sense of judgement of others, but maintaining of godly standard in the home.

People don’t like it when you don’t go along with them, such as Jesus reflected in his commentary about His generation.

“They are like children in the marketplace calling to one another, We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.” Luke 7:32

Your culture will not readily respect you for having values and standards that differ from theirs. Most people don’t tolerate ‘difference’ very well. So when you live humbly before your God you will be a misfit.

You don’t have to own the latest and the greatest, or live in the right street, or drive the right car, or have the right fashion. It’s much more important that you live humbly before your God. It’s much more important that you humble yourself before Him and leave your reputation in the eyes of others in His hands.

It’s more important that you seek God’s Kingdom as your first priority, leaving the other things in God’s hands because you know He will look after them.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and all these other things will be provided to you.” Matthew 6:33

The key here is not what you ‘do’, but what is in your heart. Humble yourself, not by what you do, but firstly by presenting yourself to God as His servant and giving all of your life to Him, willing to do whatever He asks of you.

It begins when ‘We Humbly Bow’.

Morals are a key element of human existence, whether people think so or not.

God created our world and God is a moral God. So all that God created is subject to God’s morality. That’s why it’s important for us to understand the Morals From God, rather then man’s ideas of morals.

“In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.” Genesis 1:1

“Speak to all the congregation of Israel and tell them, You will be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Leviticus 19:2

To help us better comprehend what God’s morals might be, let me point out that humans have their own version of morality. Human morals tend to focus on whether anyone is hurt or not, so they come up with suggestions like, “It’s OK, no-one will know”, or “It’s not going to hurt anyone.”

Humans can have the idea that if two people agree to do something and no-one knows about it and no-one is hurt, then what can be the harm in that?

Obviously harm to people is a significant consideration. Harm to people’s property is also serious, and so too is breaking faith by not keeping our word. The ancient Common Law is based on protection of person, property and promise.

However, God’s moral code is vastly different in that it upholds moral standards that have nothing to do with possible hurt to a person or to their property, or even of breach of promise.

God’s moral code starts with the command to love God above all else, with everything within you.

“You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Deuteronomy 6:5

God’s Ten Commandments tell us it is sinful to worship idols and that we must honour our parents.

“You must not make any idol, or likeness of anything in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters. You must not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them.” Exodus 20:4,5

“Honour your father and mother: that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God gives you.” Exodus 20:12

Bowing to an idol doesn’t hurt anyone or damage any property. And who cares how you feel about your parents, especially once you’re out of the home and making your own life?

The same could be said of ‘coveting’, secretly wishing you had things that belong to someone else. What harm does it bring them if you wish to have their things but never do anything about it?

God’s Moral Code is about things God deems important, whether people think those things are important or not. God deals with us not based on our own ideas of what is right and wrong, but on His own standard of morality and holiness.

And remember that God is ‘holy’, so we are measured against a very tough standard.

What makes something moral? God does. Something is not moral because we say it is, or  because society has changed its laws, or because everyone gets together and agrees it is so. God makes things moral or immoral, by measuring those things against His own holiness.

So when a child, or an adult for that matter, despises their mother or their father in their heart, even if no-one ever knows, that is an immoral act.

When someone secretly covets something belonging to someone else, even an intangible thing like respect or acclaim, that is an immoral act.

When someone sets up an idol in their heart, such as a standard of comfort or wealth they insist they must have, then that is an immoral act.

When a couple live together outside of marriage, or engage in intimacy with someone outside of their marriage, it is an immoral act.

When someone lies, cheats or steals, even if no-one is ever affected by it, that is an immoral act.

When someone is angry and unforgiving, that is an immoral act.

The consequences of such immoral acts will be felt personally by God’s judgement, if not in this life then when we stand before Him after death. But the consequences also impact our land, weather patterns, enjoyment of life, stability of mind, and much more.

God brought punishments on His people when they worshipped idols, demanded that their fleshly desires are indulged, or put their trust in things other than God.

“They quickly forgot God’s works. They did not wait for His counsel, but craved intensely in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. So He gave them their request, but sent a wasting disease among them. When they envied Moses and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord, the earth opened and swallowed Dathan, and Abiram’s group. And a fire raged among them. The flame consumed the wicked.” Psalm 106:13-18

“Then the anger of the Lord will flame against you, and he will close the heavens so there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land the Lord is giving you.” Deuteronomy 11:17

The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and that fear of God involves us respecting the Morals From God, whether we like them or understand them or not.

And, of course, responding to God when our mind might want to argue is one way to act in faith. Maybe it doesn’t make sense that some things are deemed immoral when you think they are OK. If you disrespect God you will disregard His morals. If you fear God you will do what God asks of you, whether it makes sense or not. And that is an act of faith.

I challenge you to stop setting your own moral standard and to humbly accept what God says is His standard. Do it as an act of faith toward God, for God rewards faith. And live your life by the Morals from God.