Saturday, March 03, 2007

FAITH WORKing through LOVE = HUMILITY?

As far as our relationship to Christ Jesus is concerned, it doesn't matter whether we are circumcised or not. But what matters is a faith that expresses itself through love. (Galatians 5:6 GWT) Indeed. I've been stuck on this verse for about 5 days now. I'm dissecting it. You see, my pastor wrote me an email and said that "the greater the calling of God on our lives, the greater the level of humility we must walk in to fulfill that calling." I agree. So that sent me off on a pursuit of what humility truly is. I think a lot of it is contained in the above scripture (Gal 5:6).



According to James, "faith by itself is dead if it doesn't cause you to do any good things."(2:17 GWT), and "You fool! Do you have to be shown that faith which does nothing is useless?"(2:20 GWT), and again "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."(2:26 NASB).



On the other hand, the Apostle Paul says, "If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing."(1Corinthians 13:2-3 NASB)


In retrospect, if your faith isn't expressed through works, it proves you don't have faith at all. And if your works aren't done in love then your works are proven useless as well. So we look back at Galatians 5:6(NASB) which says, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love."



And now back to humility. I think I believe that expressing your "faith" through "love" which "works" is humility. But do I? I really believe that if we truly think that we actually know what humility is, then we aren't able to attain it. Believing we completely know what humility is disqualifies us from truly walking in it. It is wisdom to realize that for now, "Now we see a blurred image in a mirror. Then we will see very clearly. Now my knowledge is incomplete. Then I will have complete knowledge as God has complete knowledge of me."(1Corinthians 13:12 GWT). Humility is a journey that we must follow. It's destination is the Throneroom.
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous3/3/07 11:01 PM

    oooooo, the throne room, what good is humility in hevean? there it is obvious that we are nothing. But on earth is where people run into trouble. Humility is just having a true view on who oyu are. How we are nothing wihtou christ, but with him we can do all things. and since he is never going to leave us....you get the point. as a wise man from redding once said : " humility is exceeding in greatness where god gets the glory. dont worry about it man, you're a pretty humble guy arent you?

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  2. Anonymous4/3/07 4:59 PM

    A wise man in So-Cal once said that "humility is knowing where you stand and who you are in the standing"
    Perhaps it'd behoove us to take a look at this statement on humility, after all, X-tianity is full of people attaining to a level of piety all for the sake of being humble so that "we can make us smaller and make God bigger" as if He wasn't the end all and the be all.
    Anyway, I am quite positive you have heard enough on the teachings of Christ in us and our inheritance that we have in Christ due to His death and resurrection, I need not inform anyone who brings Jesus to the masses about our position in Christ... being seated in the heavenlies.
    God Bless and "MORE GOD!"

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