Welcome back! Did you enjoy the breathing space? You were very much on my mind last week, and I have many questions that I wish I could ask you in person: “Were you surprised by how tired you felt?” “Did you manage to carve out some time to replenish?” “What did you do, and what was the experience like for you?” “Did anything helpful come to mind during your time off?” I realize that it takes a lot of mental and emotional strength to intentionally look beneath the surface of our hearts, and I hope you were able to relax, rest, and restore the energy you have spent. Bless you as we pick up where we left off and move forward together.
Maybe the best way for us to gather our thoughts and press ahead is to look at a top-level summary:
If this flowchart captures your experience of the Christian life, you may have found the admission difficult. After all, our confession brings us face to face with a couple of very uncomfortable possibilities. We might wonder if Christianity really works or if something is terribly wrong with us. Our foundation can be shaken, leaving us disoriented and scared.
Well, we’re fine, and we are certainly not alone. What doesn’t work is our faulty understanding of the Christian life. The truth is, we cannot put off the old man by keeping our distance from it. The old self is still there, right? And we cannot put on the new man in our own strength. Here again I think of my seminary professor John Coe who did such a good job bringing this insight alive for us. Even if we’re motivated by the deepest and most sincere appreciation for all that Jesus has done for us, we can never accomplish an impossible task.
Impossible? But wait, you might say. Isn’t gratitude all the motivation we need to be the men God wants us to be and live the lives He wants us to live? Isn’t becoming better men and living better lives our reasonable response to the One who saved us from death and hell and continually cares for all of our needs?
Yes and no.
We’re in the ballpark on the “why” part of change. But we’re in outer space on the “how” part. No wonder it’s been so hard for us to grow. We must respond to God’s command to put off the old man and put on the new (Ephesians 4:22-24) in light of Jesus’ shocking statement in John 15:5: “…for apart from me you can do nothing.” Whatever we do to jettison our former manner of life and embrace the new, we cannot move forward alone, acting in our own strength. We can’t transform ourselves. We need Jesus.
Next week we’ll explore the marriage of Ephesians 4:22-24 with John 15:5. What does this integrated view of Scripture mean for us in the most practical sense? What implications does it hold for our experience of the Christian life? As we look at these questions together, we will rebuild the parts of our old theology of growth that we have torn down. We will shift the trajectory of our lives toward a lifestyle of ongoing, substantive change.
However, I want to take a moment to address a major requirement for this lifestyle: humility. We must be humble. And this necessity presents a problem, doesn’t it? While it is easy to understand the theoretical importance of meekness in the life of faith, we typically don’t understand what it looks like. Strange, huh? I managed to be a devoted church member for decades without a good grasp of the meaning of humility. I just absorbed the idea put in front of me, and that notion was permeated with pictures of men and women who were yielded and small. We often spoke of model congregants who routinely submerged their desires and intentions to “give way” out of deference to others. These fellow believers blended in with the background, and they were praised for their inconspicuousness. I couldn’t help but feel that I would “arrive” in the Christian life only when I finally disappeared! Is this an accurate understanding of humility?
Again, yes and no. While our fundamental posture toward God is “yielded” and “small,” we are not called to be smaller than God made us to be and passive in our roles and relationships. Rather, we are to live into our God-given design as Moses ultimately did.
A couple of weeks ago, my pastor pointed out that Moses was the humblest man on the entire planet (Numbers 12:3). Wow! And in this verse, God is describing a man who was the leader of an entire nation—approximately a million citizens on the march in the wilderness! He was commander, prophet, and judge over Israel. He was a man that God spoke with face to face (Numbers 12:8).
So, what made Moses so humble? He was fully in reality with God. He held an accurate view of God and of himself. Therefore, he both felt and acted in ways that were appropriately deferential, respectful, and submissive to his Lord. Moses was no bigger or smaller than he was sovereignly designed to be as he fulfilled his calling to lead God’s chosen people. May we also choose to live lives that more closely approximate his life.
Prayer Project
Please take some time to sit in a quiet place where you won’t be distracted for at least 30 minutes. Then, ask God and ask yourself the questions below. If you can, write down your answers in a notebook that you might keep for this journey we’re taking together. No right answers here—just be as honest as you can.
- God, how have I understood humility? What has meekness looked like to me?
- What do I think of the idea that humility means embracing the whole truth? How do I feel about living more fully in reality with you, Lord? Does it put me at rest? Do I find it liberating? Scary? Exciting?
- In what specific ways have I inflated my view of myself, God?
- Have I been trying to change myself in my own strength? How? What have I been doing?
- What might it look like to tackle change with You, Lord Jesus, instead of alone? Take persistent fear, for example. Instead of trying to rid myself of fear and put on love, trust, and courage, what would it look like to address my fear relationally with You?
Great content! Keep up the good work!