“But I will leave within you the meek and humble, who trust in the name of the LORD.” (Zephaniah 3:12, NIV 1984)
In yesterday’s devotion, LPGA Tour member Isabelle Beisiegel pointed toward the upside-down nature of God’s kingdom, where the norms upheld as excellent within our culture are often the very things God warns us against.
Thus a thread runs through Scripture wherein the lowly receive the blessing of God, making humility one of the most prized characteristics of a follower of Jesus. But perhaps the greatest mark of our own self-ruling nature is the frequency with which we forget this principle. We are altogether concerned with ourselves.
Jesus, by his own way of living—“the Son of Man has no place to lay his head”—painted a picture of the way it should be for us. And yet his cousin John knew that Jesus’ place was far higher even than ours: “He must become greater,” John famously said, “I must become less” (John 3:30).
Doubtless, this is a phrase meant to capture our hierarchical relationship in God’s kingdom. Few would argue that we should forsake all pursuits of skill and accumulation in order for God to receive every last thing. Both biblical testaments allow for the gifting of God and the wisdom of storing up against the uncertain changes of our environments. Yet there is this need to take everything spiritual in us and hand it over to God. And when we are honest, we will admit that the spiritual is often tied up in the material. Nothing should hold our attention or affection as he does.
The reason God favors those meek and the humble—again in both the Old Testament and the New—is that it is their hearts of which he speaks. Their pride has been eradicated, replaced by the understanding that none of us is greater than God, yes, and also that none of us is greater than another. We are different—uniquely created and able to take pride in our living according to the gifts God has given to ourselves alone (Galatians 6:4-5). But this does not make us better than our brother and sister. What it should do is make us better at recognizing the wondrous hand of God on each friend.
God wants to cause us to think differently. He intends to renew our minds. And so he has announced that he will honor those with “lesser ideas.”
When you are tempted to depend on yourself, will you pause and remember that with God nothing is impossible? (Luke 1:37)
When fans applaud your greatness, are you ready with deference to the Lord of the universe? (Acts 12:21-23)
When it’s tempting to treat yourself yet again because you “deserve it,” are you willing instead to share with the one who has none? (Luke 3:11)
These are the heart-turns, the new thoughts, of those whose meekness thrills God. It should be our recurring desire to be counted among them.
—
Jeff Hopper
May 22, 2012
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday through Friday at www.linksplayers.com.