Arrogance. John the Baptist,
however is one of those guys that is the complete opposite of this. One might
describe him as humble. Traits of being
humble are that they think more about others than they do themselves. They do
not necessarily have a low opinion of self but hold such a high view of the
relationships they have that they are willing to do anything and everything
for.
At Heartland right now we are
looking to shift our souls from this attitude of arrogance to an attitude of
humility. This is a work that is done in the fabric of who we are. We literally
want to shift from a selfishness to a selflessness that puts God and others
before ourselves. We call this shift from Me to You.
There are a few things that we have
to achieve to see this happen. First we have to be real about who we are.
Our opinion and perspective is not always truth. John the Baptist definitely
knew who he was. John 1:19-34. (Please check it out.) John was talking with
some others and they wanted to know who he was. Was he the Christ, Elijah, or
the Prophet? He answered no to all three.
So they asked him again who he was. This was his reply; “I am the voice
of one calling in the desert. Make straight the way for the Lord.” Even his
answer shows that he was humble in who he was. By pointing to the Christ, he
took the attention away from himself.
Next we are to, Build up others,
not yourself. The culture today would rather seek fame than character. We
have replaced real heroes from the military, firemen, and police to those who
become famous by releasing a sex tape, being on a reality series, or one who
can play guitar. If we are willing to do anything for fame then we have lost
our humanity in the process. John the Baptist never sought fame for himself but
always tried to bring attention but to Christ.
Third we should be authentic enough
to talk about our faults, not about the faults of others. John said this
about Jesus, “the throngs of whose sandals I am not worthy to tie.” This is the
job of a servant and he sees that he is not even worthy of doing something like
this for Jesus. Our world is missing authenticity and humility in the worst
way. How many of us would “rather serve than be served.” But this was the
mission of Christ from the beginning. We must be willing to serve.
We must also use the gifts God
blessed us with to build the kingdom. Some of you may be a little too
humble, thinking that God could never use you because of your past or still
present lives. Do not limit God by saying your gifts are not good enough. God
is the one who gave you the gift, and he gave it to you to be used to serve the
world and build His kingdom.
Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Next week- What Anger Does.
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