August 19, 2008

• Jeremiah 45

  Jeremiah 45:1-5 KJV  The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,  (2)  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch;  (3)  Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.  (4)  Thus shalt thou say unto him, The LORD saith thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.  (5)  And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.

  Don’t seek great things for yourself. It doesn’t matter what you have on earth. Your reward is in Heaven not here on Earth.

  Eternity is more important then things of this Earth. What go is it if man gains the whole world but looses his soul?

  There were two monks in a monastery doing their daily rituals. They were about to bow to their deity. One got on his knees and said, “Oh, Master, I am nothing, I don’t exist, all there is is You.” The next monk bowed down even lower and said, “Oh, great one, I am less than nothing! I don’t exist and I never did. You are all there is!” In the corner, a janitor was sweeping the temple and watching the monks. He thought to himself, “Hmmm, that looks pretty good! I think I’ll try that.” He walked over to the deity and bowed while the monks watched him. He said, “Oh mighty one, I too am nothing, you are everything.” As the two monks looked on with disdain, one said to the other, “Humph! How dare he! Look who thinks he’s nothing!”

  Sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking we’re “humble”, but in reality we’re “proud” of our humility.

  A real test of humility is when something negative happens to us, how does it affect us?

  Baruch was hearing about all the trouble that was coming and somehow, because of his “pride”, because of his desire for “great things”, he was discouraged.

  Humility is all about dying to self and living to God.

  Gal 2:20 NKJV I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

  If you stick a knife into a dead body, does it cry in pain?

  The Bible says that a leader, an elder, was not to be a “novice”, a “new believer”:

  1 Tim 3:6 NKJV not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

  Pride is what got Satan into trouble. Pride will get a new believer put into a high position, into trouble.

  Perhaps real humility takes time to develop.

  Perhaps it takes quite a few knives into the body over the years to find out how “dead” you are to your self and how alive you are to God.

  God bless you and draw you close to Him.

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