brianrushing.net

If you wish to learn and appreciate something worthwhile, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing…. To think of oneself as nothing and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom. Wherefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself.
–Thomas à Kempis

This goes against the teachings of our society, but may each of us who are Christ-followers love to be unknown, think of ourselves as nothing, and always think highly of others.

It is good to remember that “there but for the grace of God go I” when we see others who have stumbled and fallen. Instead of condemning others for their frailness, may we remember that we are most frail and it is God’s grace that has kept us on the right path thus far. Therefore, let us consider how we can help others out of the ditch instead of pointing at them to shame them for being in the ditch.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” said Jesus. One commentary translates that “Blessed are the desperate.” With nowhere else to turn, the desperate just may turn to Jesus, the only one who can offer the deliverance they long for. Jesus really believed that a person who is poor in spirit, or mourning, or persecuted, or hungry and thirsty for righteousness has a peculiar “advantage” over the rest of us. Maybe, just maybe, the desperate person will cry out to God for help. If so, that person is truly blessed.
–Philip Yancey

Whatever it costs to have someone turn to Jesus… the price is worth it. If that means that being poor in spirit or desperate is the cost, then that is a small price to pay. We might look at such a life and think – “It’s not fair that they have so little, that they are struggling so, that they are in such a difficult situation.” But if that is what leads them to cry out to God for help and in their time of trouble they gain Jesus, then they are truly blessed.

May we who know the blessing of Christ take the message to those who are desperate and tell them that there is one who can offer the deliverance they long for… and His name is Jesus.

I pray that you will ask God for opportunities to share Him and His love with others today as you go to work, school, the store, or wherever else your day takes you.

Martin Luther discussed who we are in Christ, and what that means regarding how we are to relate to one another:

Nor are we only kings and the freest of all men, but also priests for ever, a dignity far higher than kingship, because by that priesthood we are worthy to appear before God, to pray for others, and to teach one another mutually the things which are of God. For these are the duties of priests, and they cannot possibly be permitted to any unbeliever. Christ has obtained for us this favour, if we believe in Him, that, just as we are His brethren, and co-heirs and fellow kings with Him, so we should be also fellow priests with Him, and venture with confidence, through the spirit of faith, to come into the presence of God, and cry “Abba, Father!” and to pray for one another.
–Martin Luther

In Christ, we have been adopted into the family of God – making us royalty. Through Christ, we have experienced grace, making us free in Him. But in being brought into this royal and free family, we have also been given a role – that of priests. As such, it is our role and duty to minister to those around us – helping them connect with God in stronger ways because of their relationship with us. Are the people who work with you able to say that about you… that their relationship with God is better because they have a relationship with you? How about your family or other friends?

In Christ, you are a priest forever. Be faithful to your calling and seek to be an expert in this, your task. Diligently pray for those around you, and teach them how to live for God.

William Carey was a missionary from Britain in the 1700s who promoted the idea of sending missionaries all over the globe, specifically to the areas that were commonly referred to at that time as the “heathen lands.” Not everyone was so excited about his ideas.

There were five objections that people raised against missions to “heathen” lands: their distance, their barbarism, the danger that would be incurred, the difficulties of support, and the unintelligible languages. One by one Carey answered these.

One of his key arguments:
The same obstacles had not prevented the merchants from going to distant shores. “It only requires,” William Carey wrote, “that we should have as much love to the souls of our fellow-creatures, and fellow sinners, as these merchants have for the profits arising from a few otter skins, and all these difficulties could be easily surmounted.”
–Bruce Shelley

We are called to be the most loving and compassionate people who exist. And we have the greatest news available that we are to share. And yet, still today we must ask ourselves if we love people who don’t yet know the news of Jesus as much as the “merchants” of today love money. Our merchants are still seeking to take their products to the uttermost parts of the world to gain more of what they love. Are we fighting just as hard to take our great news to the farthest places to gain more of what we are called to love… people… the treasures of heaven?

We are coming up on Christmas 2015. This would be a great time for each of us to consider how we might set a higher priority on gaining more treasure in heaven by supporting and giving to missions and finding new ways to impact our community, nation, and world for Christ.