Tuesday, April 25, 2017

25 April 2017 - humble bundle





Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.


We go out to proclaim the risen Christ. We are the people "who know the joyful shout" because it is precisely the light of the countenance of Christ that has shattered the dark night of sin and death. Even so, we have to be humble when we proclaim the Gospel.

Clothe yourselves with humility
in your dealings with one another, for:

God opposes the proud
but bestows favor on the humble.

It would be easier on the one hand to say nothing at all, or on the other, to give in to triumphalism. Genuine humility must reach beyond ourselves and our own fears to show concern for others. The devil is prowling, trying to keep this message from getting out.

Your opponent the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.


The devil wants to silence us. But if he cannot, he is happy to make us so obnoxious and self-righteous that no one will listen. He wants us to spread the gospel as a vanity project for ourselves rather than for others. He is afraid of the humility to which we are called. Where the Devil otherwise restrains the gospel humility cuts through. Humility makes us able to deal with the sufferings along the way. This makes our testimony more persuasive and enables the God of all grace to restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us as we choose to place him even before our own comfort.

It is from humility before God that signs and wonders come. It is not from an overly pronounced view of ourselves or our spiritual progress. It is in fact a lack of trust in ourselves and a trust rather in the God who works with us and confirms our words.

These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
Let us rejoice that we know the joyful shout and share the good news with everyone. Let us do it from a posture of humility, trusting in God to confirm our message, trusting in him to get us through suffering, trusting that if we trust him we will rejoice forever.

At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.


 

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