Twins named Peace and Humility

"I want to get ahead and I'm trying to be noticed!" and "I am the BOSS around here and don't you forget it!" I've heard both at work. The speakers were anxious and controlling of their work and their authority. Not so much fun to be around.

Those ambitions reverberated as unpleasant memories when I read the morning's scriptural passage: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

I've never thought of humility and peace as twins. Yet, another verse came to mind: "Great peace have they that love your law, and nothing can make them stumble" (Psalm 119:165). The law of Jesus says that we must treat others the way we want to be treated, and our obligation is to love God first, then others the same way we love ourselves. Hate being bullied? Dislike the "I'm more important than you" in others? Don't do it yourself!

Who do you think of (maybe yourself) when you read this? How can God's care and peace envelop us, no matter what our -- or others' -- plans and goals...and prevent us from being eaten alive by human power struggles? (Read the verses below.)

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*Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5:6-11  NIV

A good reputation

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

~ John Wooden

USA culture used to be based on a man or woman's word, and a handshake as a firm promise in business or personal life. In a BBC article, all kinds of factors were cited decrying the demise of the United States as a nation that other countries admired. There was banking failure, overspending and military interference, and all the usual hot buttons pressed by international peers.

But I was struck more by the positive things that made this nation great. A belief in opportunity, the value of the person next door as a friend and brother, and legal and moral systems built on Judao-Christian faiths. As those eroded through moral devaluation, corruption, political maneuvering, and wealth disbursement back to the rich, new values emerged: "free" love, looking out for #1, and the one with the most toys wins, among others. Others lost their respect for us as we became selfish and self-centered.

Christians build character by looking always to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We compare ourselves to him, not to the world around us. It's hard to stay focused in a materialistic world, where getting brings more prestige than being.

But we stand out among our friends and acquaintances with good reputations, not by being slightly better than others, but by being different. Honest. Kind. Loving. Even when telling the truth is to our detriment. Or when kindness costs us ease. Or when love demands sacrifice. In other words, our reputation must be built on sound character.

That's the kind of reputation I'm interested in having. How about you?

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*And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there nor will any ferocious beast get up on it they will not be found there.

But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return.They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:8-10 NIV 


*Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:1-2 NIV