It is such a great relief to know that we have nothing to hide from God. This is not because there isn’t anything of which we are ashamed but because He knows all that there is to know about us already. He knows every detail of our past, present and future – our thoughts, words and deeds – and still He loves us.
However there is another aspect to it. That is when we invite God to look into us because we acknowledge that there are areas in our lives that need His help, cleansing and healing. There will be some of which we are not yet aware. We invite Him to show us so that we can purposefully ask for His help with them as well.
We come to Him as the book of our life and, spreading open the pages, ask Him to read us. In doing this we are expressing our trust in Him by making ourselves completely vulnerable before Him. His searching gaze is like the sun bringing light and warmth in the dark and cold places and assuring us of His unbreakable love. The more we stand in open humility before Him the more His presence can enter into us. It is also our invitation to Him to begin to write our story the way He would like it to read, as the Holy Spirit works within us.
There is no pretending with God, and no need to. In Jesus He has set us free to be completely open before Him and with Him. In doing so we remove some of the barriers to His love, grace and new life.
Response:
Sit quietly before the Lord. Say these words from the psalm without excuse or explanation – be still. Do it often.
Prayer:
Father You know the whats, whys and wherefores of my life better than I do. Look into me Lord and shine Your love, cleansing and healing light into me. Write in me Lord. Amen.
“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you that I am not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
(Luke 18:9-14)
Reflection:
Life is full of comparisons. The saddest are those that involve people. So many of them are at best unfortunate and unhelpful and at worst unpleasant and destructive. Jesus told this parable to illustrate that point and to drive home an important truth.
To start with the two men had three things in common. Both were Jews (or they would not have been allowed into the Temple), both had a desire to pray and both addressed God. There however the similarity ends as they are revealed as completely different in their attitudes and approach to God.
The Pharisee, a religious leader, is portrayed as proud and self-satisfied. Not only does he see himself as better, and less of a sinner, than a wide grouping of other people but very specifically as superior to the tax collector who was near him. Although addressed to God his words are not really a prayer but a personal testimonial of himself. It was comparative, based on externals, arrogant and totally lacking in humility.
The tax collector on the other hand is wholly focussed on God and pays no attention whatsoever to the Pharisee. His attitude and prayer reveals his great need of God, and the correct translation of his prayer is ‘God, have mercy of me, the sinner.’ In other words he sees himself as the greatest of the sinners. This is underlined by his beating his breast and not even looking up to heaven. He offers God nothing about himself other than his terrible emptiness and need – to which God responds.
Jesus love seems to pour out to such people. They appeared to have no hesitation in approaching Him and, in fact, His great invitation encouraged it. He wasn’t sending them anywhere but calling them to Himself personally.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28;NIV)
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.” (Matthew 11:28;MSG)
He goes on from this invitation to say
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29)
Humility is one of the great characteristics of the Lord, and therefore of God Himself. It is no wonder then that He was revolted by the pride of the religious leader and drawn to the simple humility of the other. We find something similar happening between Him and the one thief crucified with Him.
There is no place for comparisons in our lives except those that compare us to the perfect model of the Lord or to whom we might be in His calling on our lives. Both these should bring us to our knees before Him where we will find Him ready to raise us up and lead us onwards in His love and power. Apart from these we should not be concerned with the way we compare with others. For, although we are called to be different to the world, we are not called into competition with other Christians. We are called to be who God will make us, and to find our significance, peace and joy in Him and His creating.
Response:
Where do you feel better, worse or less fortunate than others?
Prayer:
Lord, You have called me to Yourself. Please help me to trust You and Your dealings with me and not to feel superior to or envious of others. Amen.
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
(Colossians 3:12)
Reflection:
We are God’s chosen people! We are not beggars tagging along behind His cavalcade, hoping to scavenge some of the left-overs. We are there in the midst of His people, personally selected and called,
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you.” (John 15:16)
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30)
As God’s chosen people, His sons and His daughters, we are “dearly loved”, loved to the full extent of Christ’s enormous sacrifice – and even more if that were possible. There is nothing lacking in God’s great love for us. Having called us to Himself we are made holy by and through our association with Him, and because we are now, spiritually, in Christ and He in us. We have been set apart by God, for God, for eternity. We are His.
Paul urges us to see this more clearly, to recognise and accept our new identity and relationship, and to clothe ourselves accordingly. As we are now a part of Christ, members of His body, we can relate to and more fully acquire the things that characterise Him, So we can reach out, take hold of, and make these characteristics a part of our own lives because they are so much a part of His – “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” They are not to be merely superficial ornaments, like decorations on a Christmas tree, but deeply embedded in our lives. The ASV translates it as “hearts of…” and the KJV as “bowels of…” to make the point.
Because we are God’s, and may rest secure in that knowledge, we can be less worried about ourselves and more concerned about the lives of others. We have something of great value to share – the love and peace of God Himself, in and through Jesus Christ.
Response:
Dress yourself properly, and consciously, now and every day. Do not let anyone, or anything, undress you! Not even your own sins or insecurities – they are not you!
Prayer:
Loving Father, please help me to leave behind the garments of insecurity and selfishness, and to put on those of love, peace and blessing – in Jesus name, Amen.
The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Reflection:
Like Simon Peter, and Martha, we find the lesson so hard to learn. There is nothing that we can give, or do for, the Lord. We can only accept. In addition, we have nothing to share until we have allowed Him to give it to us.
This revelation of His Divine Majesty was not on a throne, but willingly on His knees before His disciples, washing and drying their feet. It was an everyday example of the great sacrifice to come. His humility and purpose required it of Him. Our humility demands the pride of doing it to, or for, Him. It just doesn’t work that way. For, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” (v8)
We reach humility only when we recognise that we have nothing to give, and are ready to accept His service to us.
Our great learning and degrees, the libraries of books we have read and understood, the organisations we have formed and joined, the services we have attended, and the sermons we have critiqued, mean nothing, spiritually, – without the simple act of extending the soiled foot to the God on His knees before us, for Him to treasure, to wash, to dry, and over which to smile at us. Only then do we have something of real value. It is our relationship with Him – which no book can teach and no labours deserve.
The Psalmist rejoiced, “I love You, O Lord, my strength.” (Psalm 18:1). He is our strength. He alone. Nothing else. He is our Salvation – and our Way, our Truth and our Life.
The spirit of Judas must have torn itself apart as Jesus knelt before him. But he could not accept the truth. He could not accept his nothing, so that he could receive Jesus everything, – so he went out and did something. He betrayed the One who loved him.
We are surrounded by people with big mouths and empty hearts. Maybe some of us are the same. We all need the Lord. Come Lord Jesus.
Be still for a moment. Look at the figure kneeling in front of you right now. He waits for you.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, please help me to respond to You for blessing – just as I am – right now. Amen.
Softly, Spoke the River 