Article taken from Fatherly Talk
The Blessings of Humility
Dearly Beloved,
The history of mankind and civilizations is filled with
stories of conquerors and world empires. The desire to dominate the world and
environment is sometimes also filled with sad stories of the inhumanity of man
to his fellow man in the pursuit of world dominion. People and countries like
to have power, wealth and authority many times compromising their ethics and
selling their souls to achieve such. The two world wars that the modern world
has experienced shows us that countries that seek to enslave others for their
own needs do not last long as world powers; for there is indeed a God who
watches over the earth to ensure that the bad and evil will fall and the good
will triumph over the bad. Yet history books are filled with stories of world
conquerors ignoring the evil they do and extolling their heroic deeds to
conquer their environment and the world to achieve greatness. What is greatness
anyway? Our Lord Jesus said that the greatest among you shall be the servant of
all (Matthew 23:11; Luke 22:26).
Any preacher or any Christian or church that makes heroes
out of anyone who conquers by their own might and army their heroes do not
understand nor know that true Christianity is the very opposite of the world
and its methodology. Our heroes should not be people in the history books or in
the business world who achieve things by their own might and strength. This is
what the devil wants to present to get more people to follow him. Our heroes
should be those who demonstrate great humility and show forth the virtue of
love, peace, joy, kindness, longsuffering, etc. Our heroes should be the Mother
Teresas and not the Alexander the greats. Of course, our ultimate hero is Jesus
Christ our Lord and Saviour who triumph over the Roman Empire and all world
empires that have arisen by the power of His love and humility. The devil
offered Jesus the whole world on a platter and Jesus refused him (Matthew
4:8-10). Instead, Jesus advocates inheriting the world through meekness (Matthew
5:5).
There is inherent in every human being the desire for world
conquest or to be part of it in some way. This in itself is not bad for we were
created in the image of God to have dominion over the world (Genesis 1:26-28).
The desire to dominate and rule the world and all around us is in our DNA. We
can't help it as we were created to be like God, to exercise authority
and power. The problem is not in this desire: the problem is in our methodology
and motive. The purpose of world dominion and power should not be for selfish
gain or lust. It should be a goal to be better positioned to be a blessing and
servant to all those whom we have authority and power over. This is indeed our
inheritance and right in the Abrahamic covenant. Abraham received the covenant
to be a great nation; he was to be blessed and be a blessing to all the nations
of the world (Genesis 12:1-2). We have inherited this blessing through Christ
Jesus (Galatians 3:13-14). It is for the reason and motive of helping other fellow
humans that the power and dominion is assigned to any individual. We have world
dominion in direct proportion to the love we have for others. The more love we
have for others, the greater our dominion over the planet earth. When we are
completely like God in His love for the world (John 3:16), then will we also
have complete authority over the whole planet.
The methodology for world conquest is through humility. Yes,
it is the very opposite of all worldly methods. The humble shall be exalted.
God will take away empires, crowns, countries and nations from the proud to
give it to the humble. Of course, when the humble later becomes proud, they too
will lose their empire and it will be given again to another who is humble.
This is also applicable to the business world and the church world. Business
people who become proud will eventually lose all their business empire and it
will be given to another who is humble and use it correctly to bless others. In
the church world, personal ministries and personal little kingdoms rise and
fall in whenever the preacher or minister in charge becomes proud and haughty
and stops helping others. Fame and fortune only lasts as long as the recipient
remains humble all the days of their lives. We are constantly being evaluated
by the watcher angels as much as Nebuchadnezzar was being watched by the
watchers and judged when he reached the prime of his pride (Daniel 4:17). No
one escapes, every human being will have to give account to God for all their
deeds and words in this life. All the positions in this life of power, wealth
and fame are but a temporary stewardship assignment we have while living on the
planet earth. It is all reduced to zero when we leave the physical earth retaining
only our personal character development as our greatest treasure and
inheritance.
The inheritance of humility is honour, power, wealth and
riches (Proverbs 15:33; 18:12; 22:4). It pays to be humble. It is a blessing on
the earth and in eternity to be humble. We receive blessings while on earth and
in eternity we will receive umpteen rewards for the character development to be
humble. Humility is the only methodology to receive fame, power, and wealth on
the planet earth. The grace and the favour of God are only upon the humble and
no other. Choose to be humble and all these blessings are yours. Choose to be
proud and everything you have shall be stripped away.
For this reason, many times before God exalts and promote a
person, organization or nation, God allows them to experience humility first.
Joseph was stripped of his privilege position with Jacob, sold as a slave,
became a prisoner and then eventually became the prime minister of Egypt by the
hand of God (Genesis 37-41). He was the most powerful man in Egypt when God had
finished with him (Genesis 41:44). Daniel was among the prisoners taken to
slavery to Babylon, he most likely lost his manhood and was castrated as he was
among the eunuchs who served the king (Daniel 1:3-11). Daniel was humbled in
soul and body; stripped of everything and everyone he loved including the
ability to live like a normal human. He was among the innocent who paid the
price of slavery and becoming a eunuch because of the rebellion of the nation
of Israel against God. Daniel was humble in spirit and he persevered in his
love for God and rose to become the most powerful man in all the Babylonian
empire (Daniel 2:48). Before Israel could be a great nation and become the head
and not the tail (Deuteronomy 28:1-14), God took Israel through the wilderness
to humble them (Deuteronomy 8:2, 16). The road to greatness, power, wealth,
fame and influence is the road of humility. It is the only road. Everyone must
be tested in their humility before they are rewarded by God with greatness.
Sometimes, those who take this road unknowingly become great but having become
great also became proud. God then deals with them the way He deals with all the
proud, He resists them and brings them down, too even though once upon a time,
they had been humble and God exalted them.
It is paramount to all that we be humble. All the earth is
the Lord's and its fullness thereof. Everything and everyone will be
humbled. Either we humble ourselves or God will resist us and humble us through
circumstances. We must choose humility for the Lord owns the earth and gives it
to whomever He chooses. We must not only bow and say grace for our food; we
must say grace for everything – our blessings, our abilities and talents,
our position in life, our health, our assets, our family, etc. All things come
from God and we must constantly live our lives in gratitude for all that God
has given. He only allows us to feel that we have achieved through our own
efforts and faithfulness but in essence, it is He who was rewarding us for our
dependence upon Him and our humility before Him. This is so we can experience
our free will and make choices in our lives with consequences of good or bad as
a learning experience. All things are inherited and not the wages we receive
for our works. We only see it and think that it looks like the wages of our
works like we see the sun moving around the earth. In actual fact it is the
earth that moves around the sun. It is not our effort that has brought us all
things in life. It is the Lord shining His sunshine rays of blessing and rewarding
us with His unmerited blessings and favour. All our efforts, when done
correctly, only bring us to the position to receive the blessings; it is God
who gives the blessing. For the wisdom of Ecclesiastes has observed that the
race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise,
nor riches to men of understanding, nor favour to men of skill but he perceives
it to be time and chance (Ecclesiastes 9:11). In the end, he finds that it is
all vanity of vanities as all men's efforts are futile (Ecclesiastes
12:8). His conclusion is only one thing to do in life – to fear God and
keep His commandments and let God reward every work accordingly (Ecclesiastes
12:13). To fear the Lord is to humble oneself before Him. Don't wait till
you are like Solomon in Ecclesiastes to discover that the secret of success in
life is fearing God and humbling oneself before Him. Solomon had done a lot of
damage in his pride and pomp. He forgot the God of his youth. Saul did the same
thing and forgot the God who gave him the kingdom. Not so David. David paid a
heavy price for some displays of pride but he eventually learn to walk in
steady humility before the Lord.
Humility is the key to success in this life and in the life
to come. No matter at which station in life you are at, young or old, rich or
poor, famous or infamous, turn to God and humble yourself before Him. Life is
not over until it actually ends for you. As long as there is breath, as long as
there is life, as long as you have the power of free will and free choice, you
can still make a difference in your life. For those who have not tasted the
blessings and have gone the wrong way, turn to God in humility now and you will
see the changes come slowly and steadily. For those who are already experiencing
the goodness of God, keep on humbling yourself before the Lord and you will see
even greater blessings. There is no limit as to what the Lord can do. The Lord
reminded David, when he sinned against Him, that he was nothing before God made
him a king; and He even said to David that if all that He had given him was not
enough and too little, the Lord would have given even more (2 Samuel 12:8). We
all know that David worked hard to rise to the top; he fought, he toiled and he
conquered. But it was not his efforts that put him in the position of king; it
was God's grace and God's gift. If not for God's gift and
anointing, David would still be an unknown shepherd out in the field. David had
a lot of blood, sweat and tears in his hands and face to reach the position he
had (for him it was literal blood as he had killed many in battle). Yet, it was
not the wages of works but the grace of God that placed him where he was.
Without grace, he would have no opportunity to work. Working was only the mercy
of God allowing us to experience ownership and pleasure in experiencing
self-awareness. In the Bible, grace comes first before works and not the other
way round. We were chosen before the foundation of the world by God and
predestined to be accepted in His love before the works were given to us to do
(Ephesians 1:4-6; 2:8-10). The works came AFTER grace and not before.
Works were given more for our enjoyment of self awareness
and independence (dependent of the Spirit of God, of course) of experiencing
them. Those who put works before grace will only experience disappointment. It
would be pride and self. The Lord gives grace to the humble and not the proud
(James 4:6). Let us learn this very, very important lesson. The entire
organization of this life on planet earth is based on us learning to walk the
road of humility. Humility is the only way to receive the grace of God for
living this life. We reject the road of humility at our own loss and peril. If
we don't humble ourselves and learn this lesson now, circumstances will
do so and then life might be over and we lose the chance to walk in the works
given to us by the grace of God.
Let us all pursue humility and seek always to walk in the
path of humility. It is a path of great rewards and blessings in God without
limits. The greatest among us must be the servant of all. The greatest among us
must be the most humble amongst us.
Be humble, be blessed.
In Christ Jesus
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