Tag: humility

Gently instructing one another

These reflections on instructing one another are based on: 
Titus 2:1–6.

‘teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live… Then they can urge the younger women…’ (vv3–5)

The heart behind this passage seems to me to be all about the church family functioning as a supportive network, one helping another to live righteously. The emphasis is on self-control, but there is also an urgent call for sound teaching, purity, kindness, integrity etc.

LIVING AND TEACHING AUTHENTICALLY

I feel I need to be honest now and say that there have been moments in which I have found comments from older women difficult to take. These were often in the context of parenting when I had very small children. I found myself thinking that collective wisdom had moved on and the women were too old-fashioned in their opinions. I think I probably missed out because of my attitude, and know of others who longed to have such input when they were younger.

However, what still causes me to sit up and listen is when women have modelled something beautifully, and have also taken time to simply be my friend before speaking into my life. Often the subsequent teaching is done naturally – and it is that that I think Paul is referring to here.

In each example, he is urging the leader or older person to first live out the way they will then instruct others to. As long as that happens in an organic way, rather than one person lording authority over another, I think it is a wonderful picture of unity and support within the body.

LEARNING AND INSTRUCTING WITH HUMILITY

Our society often feeds us the lie that only we know what is best for our own lives, and it can harden us to input from others. If only we could be humble enough to both receive and give gentle instruction in order to build one another up and help each other live lives worthy of our callings…

Prayer: I am sorry Lord when I dismiss what others may try to teach me. Help me to be humble and gracious, and also to recognise when You want me to help someone else. Amen.

A humble hope

Reflections based on 1 Samuel 1:12–20.

We are continuing to look at Hannah’s life this week. I think it would have been totally understandable if Hannah’s soul had been completely overtaken by bitterness. After all, she was being ridiculed by those around her, God hadn’t answered her prayers and even the priest thought badly of her – he asked if she was drunk! But she resolutely held her ground with God. Although troubled, she kept going back to Him. And through doing this, she seemed to push through the suffering and reach a new place of calm. Look at verses 15–18. She had been pouring out her soul to God in grief, but suddenly she gets up and eats, no longer full of sadness. We aren’t told what happened; whether what Eli the priest said to her encouraged her and/or, in her honest outpouring of her heart, she came to a place of leaving the pain with God. I would like to suggest that she learned the lesson of true humility – giving up her right to understand why she was having to wait. 

A few years ago I attended a women’s day with a speaker that challenged us on this very point. Do we cling to what we think is our ‘right’, demanding God give us answers and allowing our hearts to grow cold and bitter as a result? Or do we set our minds to hope in God whatever our circumstances, and lay down our rights to know the reasons behind any delay and disappointment? That day I learned to take a very honest look at my motivations, desires, hopes and dreams – and the self-pitying attitude that can appear at unhelpfully regular intervals. I hope that I, too, can learn to be as persistent, honest and humble as Hannah.

For prayer and reflection: God there is so much to learn from the life of Hannah. Please help me to lay down my rights to understand everything that happens to me, and to trust You always.

Jesus’ teaching

Reflections based on Matthew 5:17–30 and Mark 9:33–41.

As I mentioned last week, Jesus’ teaching often went further than Old Testament laws. At the start of our Matthew reading, He tells His listeners He’s not there to do away with the Law, but to fulfill it. He goes on to use the following phrases a number of times: ‘You have heard it said … But I tell you’ (vv21, 22, 27, 28). His standards here seem so unreachable, but He was calling out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law – and also affirming that He is totally holy and without sin. He was providing a fuller understanding of why God had made the Law in the first place; that it was all about the heart. Indeed, He reveals that God already knows what is going on in our hearts when He tells the listeners in our Mark reading that the one who wants to be first should be last. He knew what His disciples were arguing about so went straight for the heart issue.

What He talks to His disciples about reveals the characteristics of a life of holiness. Not only are we called to be humble and unified, but we should love everyone – even those who cannot do anything for themselves, such as little children. In verses 38–41 the disciples are grumbling, jealous of someone who has healed in Jesus’ name, more concerned with their group’s position than whether any good had been done.

The verses in the rest of Mark 9 reflect what we read in Matthew 5:20–30. Jesus uses incredibly violent language, not to call us to literal maiming of ourselves but to help us realise how seriously God takes sin – and so must we. Jesus teaches His disciples – and us – how ruthless He wants us to be about living a life of holiness. 

Reflection: Is there anything within Jesus’ teaching that you find jarring? If so, explore why you think that is.

 

Our response

Do we have clean hands and a pure heart?

Reflections based on Psalm 24:1–10.

Technically I am still on leave as my kids aren’t back to school until Monday, but I wanted to sneak in another devotional so here it is 🙂 Spending time considering God’s holiness – and how we are called to be holy too – is a great way to start the New Year. This psalm affirms that God is totally sovereign, but when we consider David’s comments about who is allowed into God’s holy place, we can be stopped in our tracks, much as Isaiah was. If we are honest, who in this world has clean hands and a pure heart? Who has never lied or allowed a false idol to be a part of their lives? 

These verses can be extremely sobering, which is only right, as we need to assess ourselves honestly. This psalm was probably used in corporate worship – I have read that verses 7–10 were used as a re-enactment. The people would call for the temple gates to be opened up, and the priests inside would ask ‘Who is this King of glory’. The group outside would answer ‘The Lord strong and mighty’ etc. Verses 9–10 repeated the process before the temple gates were swung open. All of this symbolised the people’s desire to be in God’s presence. Do we have this desire, and are we willing to humble ourselves before our holy God?

Meditation: Why not meditate on this psalm and consider your heart response this weekend?

The value of wisdom from elders

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Each one of us hopefully learns a great deal through our lifetime, but what do we do with that knowledge? Does it go with us to our graves, or do we learn to share it with others graciously, and without expectation for the way they will use it?

Looking to the older generation for advice seems to have gone out of fashion these days, perhaps partly because families no longer live with or near each other. I don’t know if it is the computer generation with its instant answers from Google (although I suspect it happened long before the internet), but the younger generation doesn’t seem to want to ask for advice and wisdom from their elders. Titus 2 talks about older women offering encouragement to younger women to live their lives well, and I think that’s a great model for us all.

While methodology may change (I still cringe when I think of some of the advice I and my friends got as young mums from older women) those who have journeyed further along life’s path can be a huge source of wisdom, and it is foolish not to tap into it. Surely that’s something of what church family is about? It is both disrespectful and arrogant to think that these people have nothing to offer us in terms of advice and wisdom, so how can we make ourselves more open to it?

And those of us who are no longer spring-like teenagers or in our twenties should also consider what our life lessons have been along the way so far. What wisdom might we have to pass on to those who are younger (in age but also in their faith)?

To read the rest of this article, please click here.

Why scrubbing loos is a good idea

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What is it about the human condition that makes us look around the people we come into contact with day to day and compare ourselves to them? It is something we have to work really hard not to do, which means the comparison culture inevitably infiltrates our church communities too.

I’m sure we’ve all had those moments: times when we’ve see others in a role that we wish we had and felt slightly jealous. Perhaps we even feel entitled to that role – or think in our minds that we could do a much better job than the person currently doing it.

 Or perhaps we end up in the mindset that thinks we have to contribute to the service each week – by bringing another word or reading another portion of scripture out. Why do we do that? A desperate need within us to connect with God, or a deep-seated desire to look more holy than those around us?

I think we need to ask ourselves those difficult questions regularly about our motivations for serving within our church communities. None of us is immune to selfish ambition and desires, but it is much easier to nip them in the bud early rather than letting ourselves get carried away with them.

Indeed, in Philippians 2 we are told: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (v3-4).

Jesus had some really harsh words to say about those people who put on a show of holiness in church: “Everything they do is for men to see” (Matthew 23:5) and “Woe to you … you hypocrites!”, which he repeats in verses 13, 15, 23, 25, 27 and 29. With that amount of repetition I think we can see Jesus really wanted to get his message across!

Speaking about the teachers of the law, it was the difference between their public show of purity and piety and their everyday lives that angered Jesus the most. Indeed, He instructed His disciples and the crowds “you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach” (v3).

Ouch.

Harsh words or the simple, honest truth?

To read the rest of this post, please click here – where the reason for the title will become clear 😉