Humiliation, or Humility?

Daniel 4:35 (NRSVue) - All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does what he wills with the host of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

Nebuchadnezzar’s pride led to his humiliation.

When this period of humiliation passed, Nebuchadnezzar praised God.

Pride in oneself is a dangerous thing.

It was pride that led to the fall of Adam and Eve.

True, they disobeyed God.

But it was pride that led them to disobedience.

Since pride is dangerous, humility is a virtue.

The Book of 1 Peter attests to this fact.

1 Peter 5:6 (NRSVue) - Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time.

Pride, especially pride in oneself, is indeed dangerous.

It even leads to self-deception.

We fool ourselves into thinking that we are in control.

We might even be tempted to impose our will upon God.

Nebuchadnezzar learned a difficult lesson.

Should we wait until we learn an equally hard lesson?

Hopefully, the conclusion we reach should be no.

Like Nebuchadnezzar, we should praise God.

As 1 Peter reminds us, we should humble ourselves.

That is when God forgives us, and our faith returns to what it should be.

In time, we will be exalted.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, October 22, 2023.

I will be back here on Friday, November 3, 2023

His Heritage

Psalm 94:14 (NRSVue) - For the Lord will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage;

The New Revised Standard version heads Psalm 94 with “God the Avenger of the Righteous.”

But it is verse 14 that grabs my attention.

Vengeance aside, it reminds us that God will never forsake us.

It also reminds us that we are His heritage.

But what does heritage really mean?

One way to define heritage is: “something that is handed down from the past.”

Another is: “an inherited lot or portion.”

Both are applicable.

You can even see how the words “heritage” and “inheritance” share a root.

That root is “heir.”

We tend to think of an heir as someone who acquires something when someone else dies.

But it also means: “continuing the legacy of a predecessor.”

And that is who we are.

As Christians, we continue the legacy of those who preceded us.

But to put things in complete perspective, our legacy is not bound to this world.

Paul reminds us of this.

Philippians 3:20 (NRSVue) - But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, we are not citizens of this world.

The legacy we continue is of heaven.

In essence, we are His ambassadors in this world.

And we should speak and act accordingly.

Yet there are times when we feel lost or alone.

That is when we must remember the legacy we have inherited.

We should also remember that God will never abandon us.

As the Psalmist says, God will never abandon His heritage!

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, October 6, 2023.

I will be back here on Friday, October 13, 2023