I generally try to cook complicated topics down into a few simple concepts. It is a whole lot easier, in the crush of daily living to remember…….and act on…..a few simple concepts rather than to follow 625 laws.
So what are the core ideals of Christianity…….concepts that we can…….that we must…..focus on and obey?
Love
Humility
I have tried to fill out the list. But, everything I find actually grows out of those two tenets.
Love is easy to identify as a core value.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Jesus summarizing Christianity in four sentences.
Matthew 22, 37-40, ESV
Love is easy to identify as one of the core values of Christianity. But, to act on that love……all day, every day……is hard. Fact is, none of us can consistently pull it off. But, at least, we know what the goal is. We know what is expected.
Humility, on the other hand, is much less obvious. Even worse, humility runs counter to our basic instincts. It is fairly easy to love. I love my wife. I love my family. I even love my dog. But, if I am being honest, humility is not always at the top of the list of considerations in my relationships.
So…….today, I want to explore humility…..in the context of our relationship with our creator.
Humility, at its core is the understanding that the other entity in a relationship is superior to me……to us. The concept is simple. The application of it, however, is tough. Humility……actually, the lack of humility…….is the main reason that secular humanists reject Christianity. Even worse, lack of humility is a failure that plagues many, if not most, people who identify as Christians.
First, the non-believer……the secular humanist. He denies the existence of a “higher power” outright. Any data point that implies that there is an entity on a higher plane than mankind…….he rejects outright, typically without investigation. He then assembles a construct that tells him that he is the apex being……the top of the pyramid. He martials science and observed fact to support his position at the apex. He fills in any gaps with extrapolations, assumptions, and theories…….whether there is any proof to support them or not.
Then, the person who identifies as Christian. He checks the boxes, gets baptized, goes to church, participates in the food drive, etc. But, when he reads the “owners manual”, if he reads it at all, at the end of every line, he asks, “do I believe this?…….do I agree with with this?……do I approve of this?” In a word, he gives himself the power of a “line item veto” over the word of God. How can he do this? Simple. In his heart, he does not accept God’s sovereignty…….God’s absolute sovereignty…….over every aspect of his life. Rather, he assumes the position of absolute sovereign. His failure is a failure to subordinate himself to his creator. At its core, this is a failure of humility.
His mantra?
“You are not the boss of me!……nobody is.”
I believe that this is the single greatest failure among professing Christians.
So…..What is the solution?
Love Jesus…..God……and act on that love every day because you recognize his absolute sovereignty……his absolute authority over every facet of your life.
Love and humility. This is Christianity.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul describing God’s love for us, Romans, 8 38-39, ESV
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
Daniel explaining man’s relationship with God, Daniel 4:35, ESV