Some write songs with generic sentiment; it lasts about 4 minutes. I’m weary of such dribble.
Some write songs that cause me to look into this very moment and to consider my ways. I want to listen longer.
Thanks so much Said the Whale for Big Sky!
7Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.
8Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.
9Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. 10Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. Ecclesiastes 9:7-10
6Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Observations:
“Humble yourselves” is a choice.
As a follower of Jesus humility is a choice made with a prevailing view of life and all the pressures we face that says God is above all and that His timing is right. See vs. 6
Choosing humility doesn’t mean we ignore reality, rather the cues that create anxiety become cues for faith — for us to trust Him, “To cast our anxieties on him” because He cares for us!
Application:
I’m so humble, except when I’m not getting my way. Ha! Peter’s audience was a group under increasing pressure because of their faith in God and identification with Jesus. They were having to wait for relief. When I am under pressure does it cue up faith? Do I somehow believe God has forgotten me? or Do I revert to a twisted view of God that is not consistent with the Gospel? Anxiety can paralyze us from doing what we must do. And anxiety can create compulsive and frantic behaviours. Being busy or going into hiding may not be actions of faith. But they could be.
The first action of Gospel inspired faith in Jesus when the pressures of life come screaming at us is to pray: to audibly cast our anxieties on Him, in a declaration of His faithful care.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, Thank you for the grace to trust that you care for me. When the pressures of life scream at me, let me learn the new habit of humility: to prayerfully trust you with my issues and to declare your care for me. I trust that you will direct me and those with me to keep in step with what your Spirit is doing here and now for the glory of your Son and His Kingdom. AMEN.
David Webster, author of Dispirited: How Contemporary Spirituality Makes us Stupid, Selfish, and Unhappy, comments on the self-identification trend of “spiritual, not religious.” While not a particularly religious person himself, he believes spirituality that is not grounded in a view of reality and practice actually contributes to a toxic kind of spirituality. Here’s more from a recent interview:
That the idea of being “spiritual, but not religious” is, at the very least, problematic. As I suggest in the book, mind-body-spirit spirituality is in danger of making us stupid, selfish, and unhappy.
Stupid—because its open-ended, inclusive and non-judgemental attitude to truth-claims actually becomes an obstacle to the combative, argumentative process whereby we discern sense from nonsense. To treat all claims as equivalent, as valid perspectives on an unsayable ultimate reality, is not to really take any of them seriously. It promotes a shallow, surface approach, whereby the work of discrimination, of testing claims against each other, and our experience in the light of method, is cast aside in favour of a lazy, bargain-basement-postmodernist relativism.
Selfish—because the ‘inner-turn’ drives us away from concerns with the material; so much so that being preoccupied with worldly matters is somehow portrayed as tawdry or shallow. It’s no accident that we see the wealthy and celebrities drawn to this very capitalist form of religion: most of the world realizes that material concerns do matter. I don’t believe that we find ourselves and meaning via an inner journey. I’m not even sure I know what it means. While of course there is course for introspection and self-examination, this, I argue, has to be in a context of concrete social realities.
Finally, I argue that the dissembling regarding death in most contemporary spirituality—the refusal to face it as the total absolute annihilation of the person and all about them—leaves it ill-equipped to help us truly engage with the existential reality of our own mortality and finitude. In much contemporary spirituality there is an insistence of survival (and a matching vagueness about its form) whenever death is discussed. I argue that any denial of death (and I look at the longevity movements briefly too) is an obstacle to a full, rich life, with emotional integrity. Death is the thing to be faced if we are to really live. Spirituality seems to me to be a consolation that refuses this challenge, rather seeking to hide in the only-half-believed reassurances of ‘spirit’, ‘energy’, previous lives, and ‘soul’.
5Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Observations:
To those who are not old– be subject to the elders. All of you: the elders and the younger: Put on humility. “clothe yourselves”. toward one another. God is against the proud. God gives grace to the humble.
Application:
The ancient world did not value humility on a broad scale. Even today there are cultures and people that do not value humility. John Dickson argues in Humilitas that valuing humility broadly in our culture is a Christian development.
Hubris or pride is antithetical to the life God wants for us. Humility opens the door to God’s grace and actually enlarges a person in their influence and their capacity to love well.
The problem with pride is that we are usually not conscious of it. I reek of it and don’t know it, because its the “odor” I’ve gotten used to. So the Word of God asks us to develop a new habit in response to the Gospel. In our relationships with those who are older and with those who are younger we must make a decision to “put on humility” toward each other.
The younger person thinks the older people don’t know anything.
The older person thinks the younger people don’t know anything.
Ah, humility. Humility says I can learn from you, younger and older. Humility says, I can let you know the truth about me, younger and older. Humility says, I am looking for God’s grace in my relationships with you because of the incredible hope and potential of the power of Jesus Christ unleashed in your life through the Gospel.
Listen to John talk about humility and his book.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I don’t want to just play dress up when it comes to humility. Grant me the wisdom to appreciate your mercy and grace shown me in the Gospel of Jesus. Fill me with your Spirit. I need you to change me from the inside out. Help me learn from others, both younger and older today. AMEN.
1So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Observations:
Peter speaks to the “elders” as an elder, as a witness to the sufferings of Jesus Christ, and as a participant in the glory that is going to be revealed.
Shepherd the flock of God
exercising oversight willingly;
not under compulsion.
not for shameful gain, but eagerly.
not domineering, but as an example.
When Jesus the chief Shepherd appears, you will be rewarded.
Application:
I have had the joy of serving in leadership in Jesus’ church for the past 27 years. As under-shepherds to Jesus, leaders of His church must be able to check their motives. Leading out of neediness produces toxic leadership. The church is not meant to bear the weight of my soul. So I must keep going to Jesus with my heart and life and let him heal me. His Spirit sources willing labour, circumspect contentment, and humble submission. Persistent service for the advancement of His people requires the long-view and the willingness to let leading be about Jesus and not about me.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, Thank you for the grace to call Jesus, Lord, and for the grace to serve to your church. Strengthen the men and women who are serving your church today here in Vancouver. May your church be shaped by the Gospel of Jesus that they may pour their lives out for His glory. AMEN.
urbanfoot 