Saturday, April 26, 2008

A word with an image problem...

I ran across this over on The Loft Church site www.loftchurch.com and wanted to share it with you all. I wouldn't have done "the word" justice like this piece does. Good stuff to ponder and mull over....

Humility. Talk about a word that has an image problem…the word humility is not exactly a buzz word for those plotting their success. Nope, unfortunately, humility conjures up the picture of some sniveling weak minded person who apologizes for breathing the oxygen out of the air; a doormat who just lies down inviting the next person who comes along to step all over them. But I think that is all a big stinkin lie.

In our competitive culture, someone describing us as meek or mild is enough to freak us out. If we dare not market our strengths, we are haunted by visions of being left behind while everyone else is scaling the success ladder. If we don’t toot our own horn, who will? There is too much at stake not to take our reputations, our image into our own hands. And so…we fall into the way of the world and believe the lies: that image is everything and power and ambition equate success.
No wonder Paul challenges the Philippians to be humble as Christ was humble. God emptying himself of His exalted status to become a bondservant; to give up his life for every person ever created. It is crazy when I think that it is only by Jesus’ humility that I have any kind of hope. It is even crazier to think that I rationalize my pride and by doing so, dilute the power of his sacrifice.

This virtue with the image problem is really one of the most powerful virtues that a person can have. Because when one has true humility, you don’t piddle around trying to impress people so that your image will be enhanced or your self esteem increased a notch. Your authenticity leaves all those concerns by the wayside. You can get down to your real life purpose. The purpose of bringing God’s to a desperate world.

You see, Paul is reminding them about this job; the purpose for the Philippians is to be a light to the unbelievers in Philippi. He is also is speaking to believers today; our purpose is to stoke the curiosity of all those who are clueless about Jesus. But when we are all wrapped up in our ambition, quite impressed with ourselves, guess what? Any kind of light to the world is washed out with a flood of self. Power for the kingdom, effectiveness for Jesus can only come when we learn to have the kind of humility that he did.

Paul doesn’t mince any words and he certainly isn’t one to be concerned with any image issues. Maybe we shouldn’t be either.

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