Sunday, September 25, 2016

The Pursuit of Humility

UV 2078/10000 The Pursuit of Humility
He must increase, but I must decrease.
John 3 v 30
Every believer of Jesus needs to have the attitude of John the Baptist who desired that the greatness of Jesus increase even as his own decreases. Our own egos need to shrink as we give greater and greater room and priority to Jesus in our lives. We are at best friends of the Bridegroom – Jesus who rejoice in His presence and His glory. The more we humble ourselves and point all glory, greatness, credit and thanksgiving to the Lord, the more pleased is the Triune God. Such an attitude and life pattern does not come naturally for the natural inclination of each of us is to try to get greater as we age and increase in prowess and influence in this world. It is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that enabled John to humble himself to say that he was not even worthy to tie the laces of the sandals of Jesus. We too need such a grace and anointing in order to humble ourselves.

As we yield ourselves more and more to the leading of the Holy Spirit and deny our own egos, the miraculous power, grace and wisdom of the Lord will be revealed in and through us. The fruit of the spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control will increasingly be in evidence in our lives. We realize that we can do nothing on our own but our position is initially- I- in -Him but as time passes and we increasingly yield to Him, it will be He-in-me. His circle of influence will increase and my own circle of influence will decrease.

John the Baptist was called the greatest since Moses and yet Jesus said that even the least in the kingdom of God is greater than him. Like John, we are to prepare people to repent in order to receive the greatest King and ruler as King, ruler and Saviour of their souls. Though John was such a great chosen prophet of the Lord, he humbled himself as a servant, as one who heralds or goes ahead of Jesus to announce His coming. Likewise, everything that we are and everything we have and everything we do should be dedicated to the purpose of making Jesus known to the rest of humanity. We need to decrease in terms of our sense of importance, sense of entitlement and in terms of thinking first of our own needs and desires. In a sense, we need to die to ourselves and live increasingly for Jesus, to extend and expand His kingdom in us and around us. Whoever we are and become, whatever we do or do not, we realize that we are only basking in the greatness and glory of the Sun of Righteousness, that we have no righteousness of our own. WE are at best like solar panels that collect the heat, energy and light of Jesus, store it and transmit it to others.

Prateep V Philip

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