Tag Archives: humility

THE DAWN

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A shaft of salmon colored light,

Makes the difference between the day and night.

Bracketed on the left by the end of a certain cloud.

The Shining slice of Crescent moon

Moves gently between the layers.

The path of faithful traverse,

Is drawn in the mind of a man.

And with the dawn,

Dawns understanding.

The faithful promise of the Faithful One,

Provides another day.

And I am witness to this explosion of opportunity.

What was, is registered in the mind of the Holy One.

What is yet to be of this day, is given into his hands.

The hour of prayer has come and gone.

But the life I live is yet to dawn.

You bring faithfulness and continuance,

O’ holy Lamb of God.

Come and have your way with me.

Teach me great humility.

For you alone are God.

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By His Grace

Piggishly Stupid

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Is it too harsh to refer to men as they are?  As I consider the Glory of God, and His righteousness and love.  I look around me at chaos that is man.

With all my vocabulary I try to form a name for what I see.  In myself, there is an animal.  And by display, I see he lives in most men too.  I will write here the words that seem to fit.

“Stupid pigs; rooting through the mud of humanity to find a tasty morsel.  Not one of you would cry if you were not bitten.  Forced into abject stupidity by ungodly desire.  A worthless horde of foraging filthy pigs.”

What right do I have to speak of my fellow man in such terms?  I have a right, for the pig lives in me too.

My question is, how do others not proclaim the same thing?

Pride glorifies filth.  The Truth glorifies humility.

By His Grace

Mr and Mrs pryde

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“I feel bad about Who I am.  There is something lacking in the praises to me.  I am gorgeous and beautiful!  Why then, do all not bow down when I arrive?”

And so the flatterer was born.  His Father was the Most High God.  But those who raised him up were called Mr and Mrs Wrongful and Ignorant Pryde.

What a couple they make!  How righteous and perfect do they first appear.  But spend a moment with them in conversation, and the reality of their hatred fills the air.

Men can come and go from their presence, as they please.  But to be reared in their house is a sentence of death. 

Nothing satisfies the Prydes more than dreams and ambitions of being God himself.  But even if it were possible for God to step aside, would they find the comfort of their thrones pleasant?

If these are your parents, it would be better for you to go live in the streets.  It would be better to die of starvation, than to live in the house of Lies.

Truth and humility live in the place of suffering.  Opulence and plenty fill the house of Mr and Mrs Pryde.  Every day and night they entertain many.  And flattery caps every conversation.

But Truth and Humility make their home in the open spaces.  They carefully teach all their children to endure.  They speak joyously about the things of eternity.  They never cease to praise their Father in heaven.  And holy respect caps every conversation.

They are from the lineage of reality.  Trustworthy and dutiful parents, they are adored by all their children.

Who are your parents?

By His Grace

Van Gogh in US All

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Van Gogh’s work is held in high esteem.  But he himself was a drunken, shiftless man.  He was violent because no one would give him fame, and he despised humility.

The world is full, in its history, of men who were forced to obscurity, all the while desiring to be first.  It is the way of men.  And it plays out strong even today.

Van Gogh desired to be considered a great man.  But what did he own that was admirable?  And I write the words I do, desiring to change the scheme of things.  But I will not desire what I cannot have.

I am with man.  I am of man’s things.  And one might think, that by the words I write, I am a very violent man.  If that is so, then my end should be like Van Gogh’s; to dismember some part of my body in a drunken and violent  protest.

But no such thing shall happen.  And I am no longer a violent man.  The Lord himself will sustain me in joy.  He will place humility on my forehead and keep it there with great pressure. 

This is no personal boast.  If the Lord does not build the house, the builder build in vain.  But if it is the Lord that builds the house, nothing can shake it.

It is like man to see the wicked things around him and explode in violence.  But it is like Christ to see the wicked things around him and respond with truth.

He was not touched by our filthy ways.  And those who submit themselves to his leadership will not be touched by it either.  Yet they will proclaim in truth.  Yet suspicion and gossip will abound in regard to their tendency toward violence.

Rest easy my fellow men.  I do not desire your demise.  I speak the things I do by the will of the Living God himself; that all men may be wakened to the reality of their own violence, appealing to the Christ to heal them.

By His Grace

Clarification

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I have written, and rightly so, that God is able to make us holy.  But we should not assume that it is a one time accomplishment.  Rather the holy I intend, is a continual cleansing.

The truth of God approaches a man.  It catches him where he stands.  And the holiness, of which I speak, is the humility to receive correction.  He teaches us to humble ourselves before His Great Majesty.

Because I am still locked in the flesh, you may catch me at an inopportune moment.  If such is the case, correct me.  It is not seemly that a man of God should refuse correction.

But is it is neither, that any man should refuse the truth simply because it come dressed in a fellow man.  God has given the gospel to men.  Perceive this and we should all prosper in his holy way.

By His Grace

Fasting and Sabbath

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What has this world taught me about rest?  What a curious mix of instruction.

“Be diligent and do everything that’s expected of you!  If there is time at the end of the day you may rest.  If you do this consistently for a year, we may speak of a vacation.  If that vacation appears, then you can do what pleases you.”

This is what men call rest.  They do and do and do, so that they can do what they please.  They strike themselves hard for the sake of prosperity.  Then take what they have earned, and go and do as they please.  Is this really a prosperous rest?

In the doing of this kind of rest,  America turned away from the Sabbath when I was a boy.  The stores no longer closed and we ceased to go to church.  Is this what you call rest, America?  Yes it is.   And you live out your Sabbath every day of the week without fail.

There’s no need to throw that at you as if it is a condemnation.  That condemnation will do you no good.  For you will not turn because someone rightly accuses you.  It’s simply a truth.

And isn’t it just as well that you have tossed away the Sabbath of God, that day when you restrain yourself for an hour or two from doing the things you desire to do.  For when you kept that day you did not keep His way.  Perhaps it is good that someone finally rose up and closed the door.

The Sabbath is not Sunday.  The Sabbath is not Saturday.  The Sabbath of God is a way of life.

I will not bother to interpret it to you.  Rather, I will give you the words of God Himself.

1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.

2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousnessa will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
The mouth of the Lord has spoken.  (Isaiah 58)

Perhaps a person may read this who has No desire to serve the living God.  Perhaps they will laugh and say to themselves, “This doesn’t apply to me”.  Aren’t you created also?  Doesn’t the one who created you desire you to come to him?

Now I know the gospel of the world, which is no gospel at all.  You say I will be kind to my brother and that will be enough.  But in this you are kind to your brother for no reason at all.  For you do not do these things that the Most High God may dwell in your heart.  You do these things that you may be considered a righteous man.

The pendulum of Man swings far to the left and far to the right.  From complete disobedience to a presumption of glory, the will of Man is not dependable.

Between rebellion and false humility is the Holy Lord God Almighty.  This is the place his Holy Son walked as he was among us.  The entirety of his life was for the Glory of his Father.  He did nothing to glorify Himself.

I don’t want to write a book about it.  If any man will look into these things he will learn far more than I can say.  The question is are you willing to look into these things?

By His Grace