Sabbath: The Humility of Heavenly Wisdom
Read for This Week’s Study: James 3:13-4:10; Deut. 4:6; Gal. 5:17; Jer. 3:6-10, Jer. 3:20; Acts 19:13-16; Ps. 24:3-6.
Memory Text: Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you
(James 4:10, NASB 1995).
In many midsize and larger companies, a middle-manager mentality
exists. This attitude happens when workers feel entitled to something they do not yet have: more respect, a higher salary, a more advanced position, and so on. This unhealthy attitude develops over time as the person strives to get ahead. Symptoms may include flattering remarks served up to decision makers and uncomplimentary revelations made about coworkers, all seasoned with a spirit of selfish rivalry. When one major television news anchor advanced to the top without destroying others to get there, a colleague admiringly observed: There were no dead bodies.
It would be nice to think that selfish rivalry is confined to secular organizations and that the church operates quite differently. Unfortunately, Scripture indicates that all too often worldly wisdom
also operates among believers.
This week let’s see what the Word of God has to say about this unfortunate reality.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 22.
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Perhaps along with “men who will not be bought or sold [by material or flattery], men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name” the great want of the world is men and women of humility. No, not merely soft spoken or bashful individuals, but those who possess the priceless grace of godly humility are especially in demand; for these are whom God may use best. God uses many vessels, but he particularly delights to use vessels He may keep for eternity.
Understanding that all they have of time, talent, treasure, title or intellect belongs to God the truly humble claim no entitlement in this world and covet none in the world to come (1 Chronicles 29:12; 1 Corinthians 6:20; James 1:17). They do not count their transient qualifications as anything to advertise or a means to control fellow mortals. They do not strive to be the head or to be in charge, but make their highest ambition to be like Christ. They will quietly accept low office or even a demotion if it may help them to be more like the self-renouncing Savior.
They do not need the recognition of others to validate their acts of love, but even conceal their good deeds as Christ exhorted (Matthew 6:3, 4). They are content to be invisible (unnoticed) if only Christ may be seen. They willingly yield supposed rights for the cause of Christ and render their opinion of less value than the Word of God.
Perhaps to round out the picture of humility, we need to ask these questions:
Was Moses humble?
Was Elijah humble?
Was Christ humble?
If the answers to the above are "Yes," perhaps we can see that "humble" people can
~ be strong leaders
~ can speak out
~ may not always appear to be "humble"
A true story with some details disguised:
Ruth, a painfully shy but academically gifted college sophomore, was thrilled to be offered the job of working for Mr Lowly, the humble, Christ-like history professor she so much admired that she wanted to be like him. Mr Lowly had been given the responsibility of managing the small college book store at the Christian college she attended, and Ruth was to be his only employee.
On the first day on the job, Ruth was given the task of re-arranging the books in the tiny little room that served as a book store, fronted by a divided door that served as a counter. She worked diligently, and by the early afternoon, she ran out of things to do. She had no idea where to find Mr Lowly, and she did not consider it right to just putter and pretend to be working. Then she had an idea: The previous year, Mr Sailor, who had an office across the hall, had managed the book store. Perhaps he could give her some ideas on what else she should do. So she consulted Mr Sailor, and he suggested some more things to keep her busy till the end of the day.
Just before the day was over, Mr Lowly returned to inspect her work. He found no fault with her work, but queried her on who had told her what to do, and she said that she had consulted Mr Sailor. Upon that revelation, Mr Lowly lectured her on her pride and attempt to take over his position. Ruth was so devastated that she didn't hear half the Bible texts he quoted to damn her in his soft-spoken earnest manner. As soon, as she could escape she fled to her dorm room and flung herself across her bed to sob her heart out for being so misunderstood. And she mourned the toppling of her hero who turned out to be only a broken, self-centered human being after all. Supper was forgotten, and it took a lot of prayer for her to gain her composure so she could sleep and function the next day.
Mr Lowly continued to be regarded as a spiritual, humble, Christian man. But Ruth saw him with different eyes, even though she worked for him for years. When she found out he was one of the faculty members scheming to have another faculty member dismissed, her impression of working for a modern Pharisee was confirmed again. She never did speak to him about her side of the matter because she was certain, he would not hear her but only come up with more "spiritual" rebukes.
Years later, as a mother of teenagers, Ruth ran into Mr Lowly again at a camp meeting and found him to have the same self-effacing manner that she had once so admired. She found out that he had spent time as a volunteer missionary, but her mind could only see the man who had rebuked her earnest efforts to serve him as "pride." And she had nothing to say to him.
Do you think Ruth was right in her assessment? Should she have explained her impressions to Mr Lowly at some point?
And is there more to being "humble" than we usually think?
Thank you for your illustration. As human beings, we build our knowledge and experiences based on our prior knowledge. So, in the natural world, it would be very easy to believe that the Mr. Lowly of your story didn't change at all. But in the realm of the spiritual, it is quite possible that---like the woman who met Jesus and was transformed by touching the hem of His garment---he met Jesus out on the missionary field and was transformed.
I remember having a conversation with a couple of other people about why Christians can be so mean; one of the woman simply replied it's because there are a lot of Christians who go to church every week (even their entire lives) and still haven't met Jesus. Since that conversation, it has been my earnest prayer for me not to merely know about Jesus, but to KNOW Jesus.
To briefly answer your other point, yes there is much more to being humble than we think; man looks on the outside, but God looks upon the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). At the same time, it is by their fruits you shall know them (Matthew 7:16). Thank God for His grace and mercy that gives us second (and third, and so on) chances to get it right!
Your story of Mr. Lowly made me think on how we can sometimes be two faced. We may seem humble and self-effacing, but in reality be scheming and definitely unChrist-like. I think that in order to be truly "humble" we have to follow our Lord's example.
We must also love like Jesus.
Today's lesson and scripture are a comfort to me.
As a servant-leader in our little church, I've been the one to be attacked, just like it says in the lesson, "Symptoms may include flattering remarks served up to decision makers and uncomplimentary revelations made about coworkers, all seasoned with a spirit of selfish rivalry."
It really hurts when we truly care about people in the church yet there tend to be a few that like to spread criticism. When the negative comments are dished out to other people and even new members, it hurts more.
Yet, we have to continue, and pray for those people who have the rivalry problem, and realize that someday, God's love will permeate the church. We have to hang on until that day comes.
Indeed humility calls for alot from us than meets the eye. In order for us to be a perfect example of humility, we need to ask ourselves how God views us and not how man views us. If we understand this, we should stop looking at the end of what we do in the perspective of human eyes and strive for the betterment of our inner selves for God's glory.
Humility in it's true sense is the laying aside of self;
it is seeking God's will rather than our will;
it is seeking the good of others rather than our own;
it is not a show of certain mannerisms.
There are people with a great "show" of humility who are in fact simply proud of being "humble" and using it to advance their own prestige -- this is especially true when they keep telling others they need to be more humble and submit to them. This is what is seen in the reaction of the man in Inge's story. They can put a real spiritual guilt trip on people who don't agree with what they consider their authority.
However, we are not to judge others, as everyone has their own spiritual battles. The call is for us to find that humility that places God's will first, above our own, and others good above our own -- that is the real challenge.
the other way of seeing whether you really who you think you are is to meditate on the qualities you think you have. if you believe you are humble meditate on scripture referring to humility. having understood the scripture go back to conversations and activities of that particular day and get in the shoes of the people you interacted with. many times you will notice some things you dished out taste bitter for your tongue.