Daily Bible Reading - 2 Chronicles 5 - 6, Ezekiel 41, John 7
humble or humbled
It says in Matthew 23:11-12, "The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted". These words seem to be forgotten among some people because as you look around at certain church websites today it seems to be more about the pastor than about Jesus. You open up their website and there they are, their name plastered everywhere along with when they will appear on some christian TV network. I recently went to one church website and 4 out of the 5 slides that appeared were all about the pastor or how their church was in the top ten fastest growing churches in the nation. One of the slides was even about following their pastor on twitter. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for social media and how it promotes things, but shouldn't' we be promoting Jesus and not our pastors? Look at Matthew 23:11-12 again, those who exalt themselves get humbled and those who humble themselves get exalted.
In John chapter 7 Jesus brothers were trying to get Jesus to go public with who He was (even though they didn't believe it) and to go do some signs and wonders. His brothers said this in John 7:4, "For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world". Jesus simply replied "my time has not yet come"? In other words I do not need to exalt myself but when the time is right my Father will take care of all of that. His brothers than try to get Him to come to the feast with them but because Jesus understood servant hood, He did not want any pomp and circumstance. Look at John 7:10, "But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private."
There are so many things that Jesus does in the Bible that baffle me. I mean he could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted because he was God in the flesh but instead he does what we need to get back to doing, Jesus humbled himself. He laid down all His rights as God, He laid down all His power as God and came to earth in the likeness of man so that he could save all humanity (Philippians 2). Jesus never promoted himself he always promoted God the Father. Jesus never took the pomp and circumstance rout but rather He always showed us the way of servant hood and humility. Jesus was and is and always will be the greatest servant of all time that is why we must look unto Him the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)
As I read today's Bible reading I am starting to understand more and be less baffled at why Jesus did things the way He did. I am learning as I read and look at His life that it is better to be humble than it is to get humbled and therefore it is better to serve than it is to be served. You know I bet if Jesus had a twitter He would probably be boasting about all the great things His Father had done. Think about it for a moment, what if you went to a churches website and on it rather than boasting about how they are #1 they actually promoted other great churches in the area (HMMM just a thought). So maybe it is not a website or your twitter but what are you doing today? Are you exalting yourself and your ministry or are you being like Jesus in John 7 and going about privately? Are you humble or are you going to be humbled.
Tomorrows Bible Reading - 2 Chronicles 7, Ezekiel 42, John 8
Dream Big
Ben
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Thursday, October 15, 2009
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