Monday, February 23, 2009

A Humilitarized Zone

Have you ever been in a room of people where everyone present, including yourself, were being humble? You all treated each other with extreme respect and were more interested in others than yourselves? Everyone was soft spoken and it felt like no one was being judged? Have you ever been in that kind of humble environment where you were totally unconcerned about what others were thinking about you and completely enthralled by those in the room with you? Can you remember a time when you were caring so much about people you were with that you didn’t do any analyzing, second guessing, interrupting, attempting to please and impress, or playing games? You didn’t care if anyone listened to you, laughed at your story, or noticed you? What a sane and peaceful time that would be; to bask in the warmth of selflessness; to bath in the serenity of humility. Have you ever been there, in an estrogen and testosterone free room, in a place far from vanity and pride? Have you ever enjoyed the company of people with no wood or plastic, only tender flesh untainted by gall? Were you ever a part of a mild-mannered meeting of genuinely meek and gracious men and women having no agenda, nothing to gain, and not needing to be petted or praised? Have you been in the midst of a humilitarized zone like this unassisted by drugs, alcohol, or lack of sleep and not on the top floor of a hospital? Me either.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Sickness and Death

Sickness and death can be greeted with humility or with angry and pernicious pride. The prideful one asks “Why me, Lord?” while the humble one asks “Is that you, Lord?” When suffering comes, pride asks, “What did I do to deserve this?” while humility asks, “How Lord will you use this for your glory?” We recognize a prideful response when every sentence is full of “I.” The humble response is full of “Thy.” Sadly, the prideful man faces sickness and death with unrest, resentment, and feelings of loss. The humble man faces the same circumstances with peace, contentment, and feeling embraced. Disease and death are defeat and loss of pride for the proud. Humility accepts them as part of God’s plan to reveal His power, glory, faithfulness and trustworthiness. The humble man doesn’t love sickness and death anymore that the prideful man does. But, the humble man isn’t afraid when they come knocking. The prideful one may find his faith shaken by suffering. The humble one discovers in the midst of suffering his faith grows stronger.

If there is pain, distress, misery, affliction;
Don’t add to your plight a big “I me” addiction.
Humble yourself as in all situations;
God is near, be prepared for some new revelations.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Listen To Your Critics


It is not only okay to listen to your critics, it is wise to do so. There are many things which benefit you to hear that you will never hear from friends and supporters. Valuable things. Friends won’t tell you that your breathe stinks, that your ideas stink, or that your advisors stink. They may not even tell you that your fly is open. Those are things your critics don’t mind telling you. You could be about to make a disastrous decision and not know it if you only listen to friends. I have known commanding officers who were so intent on hearing only positive feedback that they were eventually caught off guard by reality.

The kingdom of Israel was divided into Israel and Judah because Solomon’s son Rehoboam would not listen. “But he forsook the counsel of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and served him.” (1 Kings 12:8) Balaam learned that good advice comes sometimes from a donkey. (Numbers 22:22-33) Solomon’s wisdom tells us, “Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.” (Proverbs 15:22) To get one point of view you only need one counselor. If everyone to whom you listen agrees with you, there has been very little counsel received. Only after you have heard many counselors with both positive and critical advice, are you prepared to make the best decision.

It is pride that gets in the way of good decision making. Pride wants to ignore the complainer, attacker, disputer, doubter, commentator, and pundit. Humility allows the words of even the harshest opponent to stand beside words from friends and make their claim. Humility judges the words on their merit, not upon who delivered them or how they were delivered. Pride can’t do that. Pride resists recommendations that conflict with one’s own pet opinions. That resistance can sometimes be one’s downfall. Humility is not afraid to agree with what was initially unthinkable. It is the humble mind that is open and the prideful one that is closed. My prayer is that our President and both political parties in both houses of Congress will be humble in their decision making. Only then do Americans stand a chance of reaping the results of the wisest decisions coming from Washington.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Deadly Sin

The extreme importance of humility in the life of a Christ follower is illustrated by the extreme danger of pride, the nemesis of humble living. At an early stage in the life of the church it was necessary for church leadership to identify the seriousness of various moral faults. This ultimately gave rise to what is called the seven deadly sins. These are root sins. They represent the basic fleshly instincts which give rise to other sins. They are: pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth.

St.Jerome was a Christian priest known for translating the Vulgate, an early Fifth Century version of the Bible in Latin. He wrote: "There are venial sins and there are mortal sins. It is one thing to owe ten thousand talents, another to owe but a farthing. We shall have to give an accounting for an idle word no less than for adultery. But to be made to blush and to be tortured are not the same thing; not the same thing to grow red in the face and to be in agony for a long time. . . . If we entreat for lesser sins we are granted pardon, but for greater sins, it is difficult to obtain our request. There is a great difference between one sin and another" (Against Jovinian 2:30 [A.D. 393]).

My definition of “deadly sin” is: An extremely dangerous sin because it takes root in the heart and mind and is the enemy of godliness. It is a sin which, by its subtle and seemingly innocent nature, slowly and without notice suspends spiritual growth, spoils the spiritual fruit, and sucks the spiritual life out of the believer. It is a spark that leads to an uncontrollable fire. From it springs a multitude of sinful actions.

In The Parsons Tale of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales the parson explains, “the root of these seven sins is pride, which is the general root of all evils; . . . And though it be true that no man can absolutely tell the number of the twigs and of the evil branches that spring from pride, yet will I show forth an number of them, as you shall understand. There are disobedience, boasting, hypocrisy, scorn, arrogance, impudence, swelling of the heart, insolence, elation, impatience, strife, contumacy, presumption, irreverence, obstinacy, vainglory and many another twig that I cannot declare.”

Pride has been called “omnium peccatorium mater” which means “the mother of all sins.” It’s end is to be feared and it’s beginning must be greeted with the same. The antidote, humility, must be swallowed quickly and then a healthy portion of it smeared on head and chest until all symptoms of pride are erased. Our prayer should be, “Lord if I have not the moral strength to choose and to be humble, destroy the pride in me and keep me humble by Thy great power. Amen.”