i’m amazed at how smart we humans think we are. just because we have cognitive processes, does that really give us the power to express them at will? here’s what i mean:
- why do i think that i have to say every thought that runs across my head?
- do i really find my thought so sanctified that they should are exempt from being weighed in a balance according a scale of Philippians 4.8 before they come spitting out of my mouth?
- shouldn’t i have learned as a kid that just because something is in my head doesn’t mean it needs to come out right when it crosses my mind?
- or where is the love: giving other’s the preference even in speech, being considerate not to cut one another off to get my own ideas heard?
still you tell me that words have the power of life and death, to tear down or build up. but no one constrains me from my own selfishness! no one will stand up to me and speak directly to my impoliteness! but it remains: no change will come unless i die the death of slow silence. and it must be done.
it’s because of pride, really, that i find my thoughts more important, more inspired, more logical, more useful, better, than yours. and so that warrants me full right to speak over you. but really, is it the Spirit of God within me prompting me to speak? no, it is the fleshly desire for attention and affirmation. it does not stem from some pure motivation to encourage the brethren, it is a vain and selfish ambition. it is sin. and i am speaking about myself.
the small group’s been in Romans for a few weeks, and last night we wrapped up with 12. there is some awesome stuff in 12. I highly recommend it to you.
12.1 therefore i urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
.2 and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is; that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
so first: because of all that God has done for us in pouring out His extravagant love on the cross and delivering us from the power of sin and death (this is no small potatoes! i get so used to this language that it sometimes loses meaning, but how rich and powerful these truths are!), because of Jesus, we are not our own Remember?
1 Corinthians 6.19-20, ‘or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? for you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.’
there are parts of me that need to die. i am not fully refined. so often i catch myself thinking these prideful thoughts that stem from the belief that i’m doing just great on my own, and that i’m great just as i am. i like to ignore the painful process that God desires to work, the part where He prunes the sin out of my life, where i have to work with Him in self-discipline, self-control, and obedience. the point is, one aspect of my life’s worship to God is coming to Him, messed up as i am, and presenting myself completely to Him as a sacrifice. saying ‘Lord, i’m willing to do whatever you want me to do,’ even if it means holding my tongue and controlling what comes out of my mouth.
12.3 for through the grace given to me i say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
and later,
12.16 be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.
humility.
Philippians 2.5-13 have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
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