Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: REDUCE (11/05/15)
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TITLE: Decrease to Increase | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marlene Bonney
11/11/15 -
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What was it like for Jesus to be fully God and fully man? To be tempted, but to resist it; perfectly holy and without sin, while sinners daily surrounded, tested, and rejected Him? To consistently pare down His layers of divine protection? To turn the tide of human emotions tainted with wickedness, greed and self-gratification? To grieve over the spiritually lost and physically maimed? He “walked the talk,” unlike society’s spiritual leaders; sacrificing His time, His supremacy, and His very life! The cost of Jesus’ humbleness is beyond our limited comprehension, sheep without a shepherd in our wandering mentalities.
Jesus taught us to lead by serving, to grow by decreasing, to win by losing. He showed us that it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil, to repay evil with blessing. He was the example. He loved His enemies, curbing natural reactions to deliver justice to the hated—like tax collectors as they “skimmed off the top” and betrayed their fellow citizens—and others, by loving them instead of shunning them. He saw the poor, the merciless, the pagan, the corrupt and the oppressed on equal ground, all sinners desperate for His grace and mercy, because He saw everyone through the lens of the cross.
We often think, “We deserve this or that!”
What that actually means is ‘de’-serving or ‘not’-serving. When we feel that sense of entitlement of reward, is it at someone else’s expense? Jesus deserved to be born in a palace, not some out of the way dirty stable next to an obscure inn out in “No-man’s Land.’” He deserved rest when He was so exhausted He fell asleep during a horrific storm in a not-so-sturdy little boat. He deserved to be revered, not persecuted. He deserved riches, honor and glory; but instead, received persecution, disdain and poverty. He deserved not to yield up his bodily strength to heal and have compassion on the sick, the morally bereft, those who had imprisoned spirits, the hostile; when he could have had angels, authorities and powers at his beck and call. He deserved not to carry the sins of the world on His shoulders! But, Jesus’ love is so pure, so complete, so all-compassing, to the wicked as well as to the good—that He gave, and still gives up, His rights to serve US!
The only thing we “deserve” is to be on the thief’s cross next to Jesus on that hill in Golgatha. Because we are all thieves. If nothing else, we have stolen our time, a most precious commodity, to serve ourselves instead of to serve Him—by loving ourselves more than others and serving our own agendas over theirs. We struggle to put others before ourselves because we are basically selfish and self-centered. But, Jesus? He showed us a better way with a higher purpose.
In order to do that we must decrease so He can increase. What we do cannot be separated from what we believe. We must be willing to yield our rights, to love the unlovely—not to make ourselves look good, but to make God look good. Just as light shines through the darkest of nights, we should reflect His light, affecting others in a positive way to point them to the Savior.
What does this mean in our world—our little slices of humanity—today? Does it mean giving up the TV remote to our spouses when it is our turn; making that phone call to a needy friend when we’d rather be reading; giving up time and strength to assist with our children’s homework or to visit our grandchildren; rejecting our rights by allowing someone to go ahead of us in line; to curb our natural tendencies to submitting, voluntarily cooperating with one another out of love and respect for God and each other?
What does Jesus want us to do?
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