'we'd like to be humble - but what if no one notices?'

In order to be humble, I really believe it is important to have an understanding of who YOU are in light of who GOD is. I hear so many people all the time talking as if God is here to serve us, or believing in God is just something we can add into our lives... doesn’t that seem selfish? Since when was it all about us?! God is most defiantly not here to just serve us, in fact it is the opposite; we are here to serve our God. How? By offering up our lives to him. Why? Simply because of who HE is and what HE has done for us through his love and grace.

I remember when I was little I was taught to always put God first, others second and keep myself for last. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind... and the second is like it; love your neighbour as yourself... so it only makes sense that we come last... Of course it wouldn’t be true to say that God doesn’t care about us at all, and we are like his slaves...no, obviously not. God is loving and kind and gracious and compassionate and all those good things... but to think that He should be serving us and giving us what we want, when we want it and how we want it... that’s not okay. To be humble is to understand that we are to desire what God desires for us, no matter what that looks like – because HE is GOD and we were made to worship him and glorify him. We owe him everything. We are so undeserving but yet we have received eternal life in order to BE WITH GOD and worship Him at his feet! That is amazing considering how fallen we are...

If we start to think of ourselves less, we think of God more and we think of others more... which allows us to realize that we are not better then the people around us, rather we ought to be SO thankful that God revealed his truth into our lives in order that we might be saved... and furthermore, we should desire to share that truth with people around us so that they too may be saved.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. --C.S. Lewis

We'd like to be humble...but what if no one notices? --John Ortberg

It’s not about us! It’s so easy to have the mindset of ‘I’m going to do GREAT things for God’ because in the back of our minds we’re thinking about how great we will be... but if doing great things for God required us to die and never be ‘known’ by anyone on this earth, well that doesn’t seem so appealing does it? No, because it does give us any glory on earth - - what’s your purpose for wanting to serve God? Is it because you desire to Glorify God or because you want to Glorify yourself by serving God? To be humble is to understand who we are... but first we must understand who God is. Once we understand a little bit about who our God is, we can begin to see just how sinful and fallen we are, how undeserving we are AND how blessed we are to serve such a compassionate God who is slow to anger and abounding in love... God is good and his love for us is endless. His grace has saved us, his blood has set us free... and we are not worthy, but yet we received this amazing gift. So now, when I look at myself, I don’t see how it is possible to be prideful and ‘full of myself’... my life depends completely on him. He died for me so that I may live... HE is my life... HE is everything. If we realize this, there shouldn’t be room to be full of ourselves.

I don’t have the strength to get through this life on my own; I don’t have all the answers. I have no idea what I should do or where I should go; I don’t have all the answers. I am not wise enough... I DEPEND on Him! He comes first! To have a humble heart – the heart of a servant – is to serve God first because of who HE is and understanding that we were made to worship Him and to Serve Him and those around us.

happiness vs. joy

True Joy is found in Christ alone.

This brings me back to the book of Ecclesiastes. Happiness – it’s an emotion, and just like all other emotions, it’s very temporary. What makes me happy? Lots of things! I’m not about to tell you that being ‘happy’ is wrong or pointless or anything like that... because being happy is great! We all want to be happy. However; what are we seeking out in order to fulfill our desire to be happy? And when will we realize that happiness is simply a temporary emotion, while Joy is a state of the heart...

“...yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 2:11)

As I grow up, I find myself seeking out that ‘happiness’ in life. There are so many things I want out of life, which aren’t wrong, but if I’m using them to be happy... is that okay? The problem here is.. I think I’ve been confusing happiness with joy. I’ve been searching for JOY. The kind that doesn’t fade away when challenges come your way, the kind that is contagious and people can sense it when you walk into a room, I’ve been looking for that joy that comes from my heart... so no, I don’t think it’s wrong to be seeking out certain things in life in order to be happy... but remember, happiness isn’t permanent... it can fade away

Just as the verse in Ecclesiastes says, nothing was gained under the sun – it was all a chasing after the wind... If I’m looking for joy in things that will eventually fade away, in things that don’t truly matter... I’m not going to find it. Joy doesn’t fade, it comes from within. My happiness – that emotion – sure, it can be satisfied by things on this earth and things in this life and that’s okay! But when those things disappear... so does the happiness. The JOY I’ve found isn’t something that can disappear so easily. It’s not rooted in earthly things, it’s not determined by possessions, it’s found in Christ Alone. He’s it. He is my Joy.

his death. my life

He died.

He gave up his life.

He took the bullet for us.

Even though we try, it is so hard to fully grasp what that means and how it changes EVERYTHING! His love for us is so overwhelming, so vast and mind-blowing, we’re human and we can’t wrap our minds around it.

My God - - he doesn’t NEED me. He doesn’t depend on me or rely on who I am... yet he brought himself down, made himself human and then died for me. He was mocked and spit on by the very ones he came to save... he died for them even though they put nails through his hands and feet and drove thorns into his head. He did it because he WANTED to. THAT is LOVE! He doesn’t need me or you, but He wants us... He loves us, even though we are so undeserving. Grace has saved us. We are sinful and broken and yet Christ died on the cross in order that we might be forgiven for our sins and given eternal life...

Taking advantage of Grace – I’ve heard that line many times. We sin sin sin because we know that in the end we will be forgiven anyways - - ‘i’ll live my best later’ - - I know, this is wrong. It’s not AT ALL how we should be living. But yet, to a point, we do it all the time. I’m not writing to tell you what is right and wrong, what you can and cannot do/watch/say/listen to, etc... However; there comes a point where if something is not glorifying God - - we shouldn’t be spending time on it... and if it’s doing the opposite of glorifying God, well... then we’re walking in the wrong direction...

Glorify = to make glorious by bestowing honor, praise, or admiration

We have a God who DIED for us, even though we are so undeserving. What can we give in return? I don’t know about you, but I greatly desire to give God thanks by offering up my life to him, by glorifying Him in every area of my life – because my life is his. I only have life because of his death! It was so easy to say all of that, but to actually live it out = blood, sweat and tears. There are so many times, every day where I realize that what I’m doing/thinking/saying is not honouring or praising God. I realize that I’m not glorifying him... and there are so many times when after I realize that... nothing changes. That’s a cold hard slap in the face to my God. He died for me to bring me life, not because he HAD to, but because he LOVES me... and I can’t even turn off the TV when I know the very thing I’m watching is an insult to his death... it’s the very thought I’m thinking that nailed him to the cross. He tugs at my heart and I ignore him because at the end of the day, I’ll be forgiven. THAT is taking advantage of grace.

I know we’re human, we’re not perfect – but I think we need to ask ourselves, “is his death worth my life?” Jesus dying on the cross... is that worth giving up our lives for? Are we willing to start changing how we live because he died for us? Do we accept the fact that all we have to give him as a ‘thank-you’ for his act of grace is everything we are and that still doesn’t suffice. Are you going to give up your life as a sacrifice, change your life from living for yourself to living for God... surrender all to the one who gave up his life for you... are we willing? Does what we do, say, think – does how we act, what we watch, listen to or support – does it GLORIFY God? Are we really trying our hardest or have we become lazy? I know it’s easier said than done, and no matter how hard we try we won’t ever be worthy of his death... but that’s what is so amazing about our God. He LOVES us anyways. For me – that makes me want to try harder. Get rid of all the things in my life that don’t glorify God... there’s no room to indulge myself in the very things that caused Christ’s death on the cross. Sin. There is no room to indulge myself in sin. It’s time to clean up our act. Don’t be lazy.

read it. understand it. apply it.

'We must embrace the word of God as the practical source of "truth and knowledge" to apply to our lives, not just a study guide or something we whip out on Sundays. Not being lazy means we read a little and implement a lot." - craig gross

It's so easy to forget about the bible. I dont mean forget that it exists, but it's easy to forget how relevent it is for our day to day lives. What sparked this thought? I've noticed that it is so much easier for people to turn on some worship music, watch a youtube sermon or pick up a Christian novel than it is to open the word of God. Dont get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with doing any of those things, but is it okay that instead of adding them to our study of the bible, we use them to replace our study of God's word? I've found for myself that when I'm struggeling with anything, when I'm in a down mood or in need of encouragement, I forget that the bible has everything I need...

It's amazing how today, especially amoung youth, reading the bible isnt stressed as important. It's true that it doesnt say anywhere in the bible that we must spend a specific amount of time each day reading the word, but the bible does tell us that it offers us truth and wisdom for every aspect of our lives. Yet, when we're searching for answers or encouragement, when we are seeking out truth for our lives - we forget that the bible is our ultimate source to finding all that we stand in need of... There have been so many occasions where I've heard people complain about not growing in their relationship with God. They feel as if they're 'stuck in the same spot'. They desire to know God more, have a deeper grasp of who He is and what he offers us. They desire to hear his voice more clearly, have more direction in their life... i think you get the point... however; when asked if they're reading the bible, they shrug it off and say 'yeah, I try to read it as often as I can'. Im not perfect, I've said and done all of these things too - but the truth is, I was asking so much of God, but offering him nothing. I expected him to just GIVE me everything I was seeking, but I was too lazy to seek God out.

open the bible - not just on Sunday morning in church - Open it often. When will people begin to realize that the bible has EVERYTHING to offer us? Another problem this 'spiritual laziness' causes is the fact that we only read parts of the bible that are 'easy and relevant'. We are quick to read psalms or romans or any of the gospels... but we avoid the parts of the bible that take a little more time to read through and a little more work to understand. We skip over verses that dont make sense to us, we avoid books of the bible that seem to have no relevance to our current circumstances. Maybe the reason so many young people say 'im stuck in my relationship with God' is because they dont put in any effort - they expect God to do it all.

First we need to start opening the bible right away - not as a last resort and not only when we're struggeling. If you desire to grow in your relationship with God, put in some effort. Read the word, discuss it with those around you, discover the meaning behind passages you've never read or even passages you read all the time. Second, apply it to your life. Dont read it and forget it - then your wasting your time. Read the word, Understand it and Apply it. If we read the word and then forget it, we're like a man who looks in the mirror and then forgets what he looks like as soon as he walks away (James 1:22-25) Dont waste your time...

God's word has so much to offer, but it requires our effort and attention. Dont go through life thinking you know everything, that you have enough wisdom and your 'good' enough to make every decision without turning to God. Open his word, read it and apply it to your life. Dont avoid the bible by replacing it with worship music, youtube sermons or another source... dont replace the bible with anything... It's amazing how people can say the bible has nothing to offer them in their circumstances - thats not true! You just need to look. Dont flip it open and expect it to land on the passage you need to hear most. Read it inside and out... know it well and you'll find that God is teaching you more and more every time you open it.