I am currently reading John Eldredge's "Waking the dead". (A great book, by the way). In it, John made a statement which goes something like this, "Most of the 'christian humility' we see today is nothing but shame masquerading as humility".
Somehow, we are just not ready to accept our goodness, the gift we received from God. The shame created by sin, is still impacting our self-image. I think our biggest fear is that, we think if we unleash our goodness, we may become prideful. So to combat pride, we find a way to tie ourselves at the foot of shame. We call it humility and then we act 'humble'. Talk about bondage!
Saint Iraneus's famous quote "The glory of God is man fully alive", in my opinion, is very biblical. After all, Jesus came to give us Life. "I have come that you may have Life", "I am the way, the truth and the Life". It glorifies God when we receive that life and become fully alive. It also glorifies God, when we fearlessly live that life to the full potential. That is not pride. It's living a life which reflects the glory of God. It is living just like who we truly are - "partakers of the divine nature".
10 comments:
Thanks for sharing, Bino, that is some good mind-food.
willohroots - Glad you liked the post!
Great encouragement, Bino!
Waking the Dead is a great book and I love the parts that you quoted. Experiencing God's life and allowing it to transform us is what this christian life is all about. Jim Robbins talks about the good and noble heart which we've been given and we need to accept our new identity in Christ and begin to live out of our good and noble heart.
Great quote, I agree FULLY!!! That is why I could not explain why the Holy Spirit does not convict us of sin to MOST Christians, they are so comfortable (at least it seems that way) with shame, guilt and condemnation, they assume it must be from God. NUH UH!!!
I too think people can't believe the truth, cause it seems to good to be true and the really prideful thing is not receiving this gift of LIFE freely.
Hey if Christians want to live in less than the best, than by all means they can BUT, one day they will realize how much of their life they wasted living in fear and not freedom!!!!
"Gospel humility frees you from the need to posture and pose and calculate what others think, so that you are free to laugh at what is really funny with the biggest belly laugh. Proud people don’t really let themselves go in laughter. They don’t get red in the face and fall off chairs and twist their faces into the contortions of real free laughter. Proud people need to keep their dignity. The humble are free to howl with laughter."
Dr. John Piper
http://centralityofthegospel.wordpress.com/2009/09/05/spiritual-warfare-this-world-is-a-battlefield/
Ike, When you hear Piper say stuff like that you realize Tim Keller has had a good impact on him... :-).
http://centralityofthegospel.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/the-jonah-principle-and-humility-the-penny-has-not-dropped/
Aida - Thanks! I have enjoyed Jim's book as well. Both books have a lot in common.
Lydia - I am glad you stopped by.
Ike - That's a good excerpt from Piper.
centralityofthegospel - thanks for stopping by.
It does seem so difficult for believers to admit we are good,,,it seems arrogant but it's really just the gospel truth! Thanks for this post..
Just stopping in to say "HI", hope you and yours are happy, healthy and enjoying Him!!!!!
Lydia - We are doing well. Thank you for checking. Beginning of the school year usually start with some sickness (flu). It was the same this year as well. But everything is getting back to normal.
My wife and I are currently looking for job. There are few options pending. I think we will have a better clarity next week.
we are learning to live loved by God even in the midst of difficulties.
Hope you and your family are doing well in the Lord.
In Christ's love,
Bino.
Post a Comment