Humbling Yourself with an "I Don't Know"

"I don't know" is often the only reply we can give to explain the mystery of Christ. Our personal relationship with Christ is often the only apologetic we can offer. Our lack of knowing is the beginning of humility and the very essence of the spiritual life. ---Messy Spirituality, Michael Yaconelli
The real truth in this statement is the ultimate humility is knowing you don't know anything. We are always going to be "works-in-progress". So, it's okay for all of us to say "I don't know" even when we are thought of as the know-it-all in the family or the well-versed in scripture amongst your bible study friends. When someone asks those questions about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and anything in God's Word, we are not experts so it's okay to say "I don't know" and "I don't know that the answer is in the bible. Some questions we just cannot answer this side of Heaven. But you can share what you do know. I know that once I felt unloved, unworthy and disconnected from the source of all good things but now I know I am loved, worthy and connected to my Father, thanks to Jesus who was the mediator that brought us together. Share what you know and leave the rest in the hands of the Almighty Creator of all things.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 217

There are lots of different kinds of fruits to eat in our world but there is one fruit of the spirit. In doing some digging on this topic of fruit, I found that there is some contention on the definition of the fruit. Was it meant to say there is only one fruit that have 9 different aspects or is it 9 different fruits? I believe there is one fruit which is the Holy Spirit within us. The nine attributes within this Spirit are within us but as all fruit needs cultivating with sunshine, good soil and water. And much like it is in our world, there will be places where the fruit ripens beautifully and there will be other places where the fruit is lacking quality because it didn’t get enough water or insects got into them. We, too, have to cultivate these attributes of the Spirit within us. All these attributes of the Spirit are within us but we have to allow them to grow until they ripen and can be harvested. They are individual attributes but all have one common goal to be like Jesus Christ. I think these 9 listed attributes are only a starting point as there are many other attributes that Jesus has that we should strive for like compassion, consideration, humility. It is all about becoming more like Christ. The more we know and understand who Jesus is the more we will understand what we need to cultivate within ourselves to become more like Jesus.

Philippians 2:1-5 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 183

We were playing one of our favorite games last evening, Uno Attack. My 10-year-old daughter gets easily excited about anything so when she won twice in a row she was just beyond proud of herself. I made a comment about being humble and of course, she asked what does that mean. This is one of those words that is not easy to define especially on the spot like that. It is more a word you know the meaning and you know it when you see it. I found an awesome definition on-line this morning that really gets to the heart of what humility is. It is from the brilliant man of God, C.S. Lewis. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.

1 Peter 5:5 All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 133

My thoughts have been on control and releasing that to God so it doesn’t surprise me that I am seeing this in and around me. My daughter and I went to see Jurassic Park 3D this weekend. It has been a top ten favorite movie of mine that I have seen too many times to keep count. My daughter had seen it only once so I knew it would be scary but she could handle it. The best part of the movie was feeling her jump in her seat beside me in the abrupt frightening moments of the movie. The main theme of the movie is about control. The owner and creator of Jurassic Park was delighted by all that he had created and was admonished by the other characters for his lack of humility. Releasing control to God requires humility but humility requires understanding the scope of who God is. And though you read and understand who God is, you have to feel that in your heart for it to really take effect and give you the humility required to submit to God fully. Like all things, it is a process we must go through and a daily regiment needs to be done to continually move forward in progressing to full submission to God. Jesus was perfect in this and is our example. We won’t attain this state of perfectness in this life but it is and will be a blessing to our lives here if we keep marching toward that goal.

Romans 8:6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 87

I love this idea of putting on fruits of the spirit like clothes. It really is a reminder that these fruits are not something we just have within. We aren’t born with patience. Think of how a baby cries when it is hungry. The baby wants that milk NOW! We don’t  have kindness naturally. Think of the kids in the school yard calling each other names. We are just lumps of clay when we are born. God takes that lump of clay and molds it into a bowl and we ask the Holy Spirit to fill that bowl with fruit or to go with the clothes analogy, we put on our shirt of kindness, our pants of patience, our sweater of humility and so on; dressing in spiritual layers everyday no matter what the weather calls for. I am often hot at work as you know because the thermostat is up so high for the others near the windows who are cold but I have been putting on my spiritual layers of clothes and have been patient and kind regardless of my over-heated body. I am going to give names of the fruits to my clothes as I started above and think of those as I dress each morning.

Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 212

My daughter and I went to see the new movie "Brave". It was a fantastic movie filled with good laughs, scary moments and a great message. The main theme of the message is about pride. I found myself curious about this word. It's one of those words that you know what it means but you don't have the words to actually define it. So, I did a little research and found pride to be considered the sin that started all sins. This is the sin that Lucifer had that led to the fall. Pride is the excessive belief in one's own abilities that interferes with the individuals recognition of the grace of God. I found a quote that says it very well: Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas said of Pride "inordinate self-love is the cause of every sin (1,77) ... the root of pride is found to consist in man not being, in some way, subject to God and His rule." There is a very good article about pride that is well worth reading at http://www.allaboutgod.com/sin-of-pride.htm.  It says the opposite of pride is humility. It is like fighting fire with water. It gives two good examples of pride from the bible and talks about how to recognize pride which is very subtle and how to combat it. I am thanking God for the gift of this movie that shows how pride tears things apart and how humility mends them. I pray that others that watch this movie who are suffering from this sin of sins will finally come to recognize the truth. Take a look at your own life, as I will do myself, and exam your motives. That is a good start... 

1Peter 5:5 All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."