Matthew 23:11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (ESV)
Mark 8:34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. (ESV)
Here is a thought to ponder. When we are living surrendered, possessed, as an empty vessel, won’t our lives be anything but a humbled life? God manifest in and through man looks like Jesus who was meek and lowly. So what other attribute could I elevate above that most fundamental of all? Does it then stand to reason that my encounters in that surrendered condition will exhibit the state of humility? Won’t all my interactions be of a humble nature? Not only is that true but Jesus is the one who will humble us in all aspects of our walk when we are surrendered. Why? This is the most amazing part.
Because He loves us so much! In His humility we are exalted! When we are nothing of selfish, He is everything in us and through us. There can be no greater joy than the divine origin of love itself flowing through our veins. Think of how glorious it is to be in His presence; when we have those moments of utter joy; when we are in the manifest proximity of an amazing, loving Daddy. Now imagine what it would be like to walk in that certainty all day, in every moment, just while we breath. That is being exalted! Personal recognition of the universe is not what we desire when in our most debase state. Habitation of our Father is our design. Jesus’ name is above all names because He was THE meek and lowly. The nothing of the vessel is the ALL of God. Creation cannot resist or oppose the creator ever present in the surrendered vessel. If we could get that, all that is big is made small; all that is insignificant becomes magnificent!
I had an image this morning of a student taking a test. Think about some time back in High School when you were taking “one of those tests.” You had studied and studied. You were certain that you had it all figured out. A perfect grade was in your future. Now imagine that person. You know the one. He/she is looking over your shoulder. “This is bad” you mutter. Not only could you get caught and get into trouble but he/she doesn’t deserve to benefit from your hard work. So do you have the picture?
Sometimes I feel we are like this with God. We hover over our task, our problem, our concern, our struggle, our “whatever” and position ourselves to protect our stuff from prying eyes just like back in High School. Do you know that God is not a cheater? You know He doesn’t need to look at your paper? You know that He is very concerned about your issue? You know that He actually wants to give you the answers to the test? “Wait a minute, now you are saying that we should be lazy and not put forth any effort. What will we learn from that?” EVERYTHING! We learn dependency on a loving God. How awesome it would be to have the lover of the universe in you sharing His wisdom with you? Why are we so opposed to that truth? What point is there in YOU becoming a stronger person in YOU so when YOU die YOU are finally free of YOU so YOU can go to heaven? Our eternal relationship is with our Father in Heaven. Why wouldn’t we start now? That is what Jesus did.
Yay Jesus!
Lance
alancetotheheart 