Transcript
I was thinking again the other day how the cross of Jesus Christ teaches us that God is able to take very bad things and produce very good things out of them. And I was thinking how we should, in the midst of this pandemic that all of us are dealing with and the lockdown that maybe is driving all of us crazy with all of its political and economic and relational and church implications, we should look for the good that God would bring out of this bad thing; that's not saying this isn't a bad thing. Nothing was worse in all of human history than the death of the Messiah. Nothing is more wonderful and has produced more good than the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A Renewed Humility
And I think one of the good things that God can bring out of this pandemic is a renewed humility in all of us. You see, it's taken one little microscopic virus to shut the world down. It demonstrates how weak we actually are. It demonstrates the amazing lack of control we have. It demonstrates how incredibly dependent we are. And you see, what God does in trouble is he reveals things about you that have already been there so that you would learn them and you would grow as a result. Humility is one of those things. This moment should humble us.
Enough of human autonomy, enough of human self-sufficiency. As James says, we say, "Tomorrow I'll go here, I'll go there," when we don't have a clue what tomorrow will bring. You see, here's where humility is important. A humble heart is a grateful heart. We take too much credit for things we couldn't have earned or achieved on our own. If you have a good marriage, that marriage is a result of God's grace. If you have a good job, it's because God used that job to provide for you and you can never control all the economic things and all the personal gifts that are necessary to have that job and succeed in it.
A humble heart is a grateful heart, a humble heart is an obedient heart. Because all of a sudden, you realize you're not smart enough to take control of your life. You're not smart enough to make your own rules; you need to look to the Creator to do that for you.
A Humble Heart Is an Approachable Heart
A humble heart is an approachable heart; it opens me up to be ready to admit, it opens me up to be ready to admit, confess things that I would have defended myself against in my pride. that I would have defended myself against in my pride.
A humble heart is a serving heart. I've said many times and no one gives grace better than a person who is deeply persuaded they need it themselves. When you quit taking credit, you quit looking down on people. When you quit thinking that you're righteous you quit looking down on people that you think are not as righteous as you are. And you begin loving and you begin serving and you begin to be patient and you begin to be kind.
But most of all, most important, a humble heart is a worshiping heart. So that's the thing we were hardwired for, that's a thing we're created for, that we would worship God and God alone, that we would give our self-glory and live for the glory of God. My prayer is that you would allow this moment to humble you and that humility would produce a harvest and that humility would produce a harvest of good things in your life. If anything this pandemic teaches us is we're weak and we're not in control and we're needy and we're dependent. And those lessons are good lessons to learn because they will drive you to God. And they'll drive you into a more loving, serving relationship with others. May God bring that good thing out of this bad thing that we're facing.
