Over the past week we have been talking about ‘pride’. We have looked at how foolish it is for us to see ourselves as better than we are. Although pride generally is perceived as seeing ourselves as better than we are, there is also the danger of seeing ourselves as worth less than we are.
23 This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV)
The above verses from Jeremiah remind us that riches and wisdom are nothing to boast about. Would we have either unless God had given them? It is the same with our skills, talents, health or anything else we can name. God gave them all to us. We cannot boast about anything on our own merit. At the same time, we know that we are not only weak but sinful as well. So, there is nothing we can boast about except this: God loves us and thought we were so valuable that He was willing to sacrifice His Son for us. This means we have value.
But being humble doesn’t mean we convince ourselves that we are worthless. That is very disrespectful to our Lord who paid such a high price for us. Each of us has been bought back (redeemed). We are children of the King!
I remember about 15 years ago hearing Dave Overholt using the Lion King in a sermon analogy. Simba, the young lion cub, has run away and is living a carefree life but he is encouraged by the memory of his father who says, “Remember who you are” . Simba was a child of the king. He lacked confidence until he remembered this.
We are children of a God that is in the business of using ordinary things for His glory. (David was the youngest of his brothers. His father didn’t even bother to invite him when Samuel came to anoint the next king of Israel. And later, because there was no room in the inn Jesus humbled Himself and was born in a stable.) None of us has the right to say we are unimportant or that God cannot use us.
Phil Cann points out that when God called Moses and Moses started to give reasons why he wasn’t equipped to do the job, God asked him a simple question;
Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied. Exodus 4:2 (NIV)
“Staff” is a really fancy word for stick. Moses had a stick. God tuned that stick into a serpent as a sign and used it to part the red sea. God was able to save 1.2 million people with a stick in a willing hand. Jesus fed 5000 people with the lunch of one willing boy.
And an innkeeper had no more rooms to give but he had a stable which God used to put his very presence into the world.
What do you have to give? Is it a stick or a lunch or a cold cup of water? We know that God’s Kingdom is brought about through these seemingly small things. As you serve in the group home you have the power to give whatever you have to God for Him to use and work powerfully.
God could have parted the sea or fed the crowd without the willing servants and their humble gifts but he hardly ever works in a powerful way without working through a weak, poor sinner who is willing to be used.
Thinking we can do nothing is dishonouring to the God who died for us and lives in us.
“What is in your hand?” - God
Mark Wallace
23 This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV)
The above verses from Jeremiah remind us that riches and wisdom are nothing to boast about. Would we have either unless God had given them? It is the same with our skills, talents, health or anything else we can name. God gave them all to us. We cannot boast about anything on our own merit. At the same time, we know that we are not only weak but sinful as well. So, there is nothing we can boast about except this: God loves us and thought we were so valuable that He was willing to sacrifice His Son for us. This means we have value.
But being humble doesn’t mean we convince ourselves that we are worthless. That is very disrespectful to our Lord who paid such a high price for us. Each of us has been bought back (redeemed). We are children of the King!
I remember about 15 years ago hearing Dave Overholt using the Lion King in a sermon analogy. Simba, the young lion cub, has run away and is living a carefree life but he is encouraged by the memory of his father who says, “Remember who you are” . Simba was a child of the king. He lacked confidence until he remembered this.
We are children of a God that is in the business of using ordinary things for His glory. (David was the youngest of his brothers. His father didn’t even bother to invite him when Samuel came to anoint the next king of Israel. And later, because there was no room in the inn Jesus humbled Himself and was born in a stable.) None of us has the right to say we are unimportant or that God cannot use us.
Phil Cann points out that when God called Moses and Moses started to give reasons why he wasn’t equipped to do the job, God asked him a simple question;
Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied. Exodus 4:2 (NIV)
“Staff” is a really fancy word for stick. Moses had a stick. God tuned that stick into a serpent as a sign and used it to part the red sea. God was able to save 1.2 million people with a stick in a willing hand. Jesus fed 5000 people with the lunch of one willing boy.
And an innkeeper had no more rooms to give but he had a stable which God used to put his very presence into the world.
What do you have to give? Is it a stick or a lunch or a cold cup of water? We know that God’s Kingdom is brought about through these seemingly small things. As you serve in the group home you have the power to give whatever you have to God for Him to use and work powerfully.
God could have parted the sea or fed the crowd without the willing servants and their humble gifts but he hardly ever works in a powerful way without working through a weak, poor sinner who is willing to be used.
Thinking we can do nothing is dishonouring to the God who died for us and lives in us.
“What is in your hand?” - God
Mark Wallace
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