Living-loving like Jesus: Humility, episode 131 (rebroadcast)

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right

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here at the When You Love a Prodigal podcast and also help and hope for your own life journey.

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Saying once again, we've started the new year with a look at what God might want to

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do in our lives through this prodigal journey.

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If you have been listening to this podcast for very long, you have heard me say that

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God is just as committed to working in us as He is in our prodigals.

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He cares about our loved ones, but He also cares about us.

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A primary purpose He has is to make us more and more like Jesus.

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I'm grateful that God has given us a clear picture of what He is working toward, what

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we will be like as we become more like Jesus.

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The Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 3, and I've read this the last two sessions,

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and I just think we need to get this verse, these verses, in our mind.

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It says, Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with

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compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

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Bear with each other and forgive one another if any one of you has a grievance against

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someone.

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Love as the Lord forgave you, and over all these virtues put on love, which binds them

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all together in perfect unity.

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We're looking at each of these pieces of clothing week by week, and today we are looking at

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humility.

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My husband was a hard-working man.

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Our prodigal, in his younger years, was not.

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One day my husband came home, and our son was sitting on my car, watching his friends

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work on his car.

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My husband's response was, Can't you help them fix your car?

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Or at least learn from them?

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You're just sitting watching them work.

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My husband rarely got angry, but he did that day.

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He came in, and he sat down to talk to God about it.

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The Lord had a question.

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So, Steve, how big is the gap between you and your son?

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He said, It's pretty big when it comes to work, especially.

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Then the Lord said, So how big is the gap between you and me?

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Steve?

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Immediately my husband said, Oh, so much bigger.

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Give me, Lord, for thinking that I am better than my son.

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It's always risky to talk about humility.

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After all, to claim any expertise on humility is to negate any claim I might have to being

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humble.

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We do know, though, that the Father and Jesus Himself, as well as Peter, Paul, and James,

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clearly, admonished us to be humble ourselves, or God will need to do it for us.

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So to avert any such action by the Lord, I will let Scripture be our teacher.

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So here's what it looks like to be humble.

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From the Father, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray

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and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will

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forgive their sin and will heal their land.

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When the Lord saw, this is in 2 Chronicles, when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves,

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this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah.

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Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them, but will soon give them

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deliverance.

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In Isaiah 66 we read,

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"'Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being, declared the

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Lord?

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These are the ones I look on with favor, those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and

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who tremble at my word.'"

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Jesus had a few things to say about being humble as well.

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Matthew 11,

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"'Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you

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will find rest for your souls.'"

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My husband did a substantial story on the most important characteristic for a follower

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of Christ to have, and he decided that it was to have a humble heart, just as Jesus

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mentioned.

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In Matthew 23,

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"'For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will

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be exalted.'"

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In Luke 18,

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"'I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.'"

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This was the beggar who came with his tiny offering for the Lord, and begged God to give

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him forgiveness for himself, for all that he had done.

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Next to him was a priest who came and said,

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"'God, thank you that I'm not like this man.'"

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And here's what Jesus said.

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"'I tell you this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God, for all those

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who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.'"

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The apostle Paul also had a few things to say about it.

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"'For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you.'"

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I think that means all of us.

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"'Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with

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sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.'"

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In Ephesians Paul says,

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"'Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love.'"

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And then in Philippians, "'Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather

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in humility value others above yourself, not looking to your own interests, but each

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of you to the interests of others.'"

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I am reminded of this often.

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James, who is a brother of Jesus, says,

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"'Who is wise in understanding among you?

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Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom.'"

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And in James 4, but he gives us more grace.

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This is why scripture says,

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"'God opposes the proud, but gives favor to the humble.'"

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And then he goes on and says, "'Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.'"

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Then from Peter, he says,

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"'Finally all of you be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate,

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and humble.'"

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He also goes on and says,

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"'In the same way you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders, all of you, younger

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and elders, clothe yourself with humility toward one another, because God opposes the

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proud, but shows favor to the humble.'"

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I can hear my husband saying,

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"'I don't want God as my enemy, so I am going to choose to humble myself.'"

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He goes on and says, "'Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he

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may lift you up in due time.'"

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These reminders tend to put me on my face before him, claiming mercy and grace.

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They are not the only admonitions scripture full of commands.

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I read a lot of scripture saying to humble yourself, but there are many, many more.

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This is the teaching that Jesus said,

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"'Humble yourself, and then I will lift you to where I want you.'"

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When we are critical of our wanderers, we should take a moment to check our own pride

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and arrogance and humble ourselves before the Lord.

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What about you?

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Where are you in your journey toward humility?

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Is there a situation where your pride is evident?

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Humbling yourself may encourage a change in your prodigal.

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So we've talked about compassion and kindness and humility.

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There's more coming.

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But next week, we're going to have another guest.

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His name is Ron Deal, and he works with blended families and helping people to grow in their

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marriages and to relate well to their children.

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I think you're going to want to hear what he has to say.

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And then we'll get back to our study of living and loving like Jesus.

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You can get resources if you check out the show notes so that you can find places to

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go further in these concepts.

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God bless you.