Seeing His Face

Scripture

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.

~Philippians 2:3, NLT

Quote

If you plan to build a tall house of virtues, you must first lay deep foundations of humility.

~Augustine

In the Church of Our Lady in central Copenhagen stands a statue of Christ that is almost twenty feet tall. The statue was made by the internationally renowned Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. The statue depicts the resurrected Jesus looking down in compassion on His people. It is aptly known as Christus Consolator – Christ the Comforter. One day a visitor came to see the statue but he complained to an attendant that he could not see Jesus face. The attendant said, “Kneel at His face and look up.” The tourist did so and remarked with delight, “Oh, now I can see His face clearly.” It is not a coincidence that Jesus began the beatitudes with blessed are the poor in spirit. Humility is foundational to everything we do in the Christian life. If we don’t get humility right, nothing we do will be right. Unfortunately, the greater our gifts, wealth, and success, the greater our difficulty in remaining humble. Paul said in Ephesians 4:2, Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.

I came to the Danville area in 1979 and the church celebrated it’s 100th birthday in March of 1984. Bobby James was our church historian and he and others worked with me to plan a celebration. We looked at all Danville’s former pastors and we came across the name Henry Parker. Dr. Henry Parker had just retired as pastor of First Baptist Church Orlando, Florida. He served as Danville’s pastor while he was at Howard College, now Samford University. We decided that he would make a great key note speaker at our celebration and so I invited him. He agreed to come and I arranged for his air fair and expenses. An honorarium never crossed my mind and it was difficult getting the plane fair approved. He came and I picked him up from the airport and carried him back after the service. A few weeks later I got a call from him. He wanted to know why he had not been paid and I told him it was my fault and was an oversight. That was not good enough for him and he proceeded to give me a piece of his mind. I felt really bad but I had no money of my own and the church did not want to give him an honorarium because several other former pastors attended and their expenses were not paid. Looking back, I know I made a mistake. He should have been paid and that is on me. Personally I would never had made that call asking for my money. Of course, that is probably not humility on my part which is what I am trying to illustrate. Henry Parker was highly successful but he was not an humble man.  I have spoken at several churches where I was not paid and I did not raise a stink. Needless to say, I was impressed with Dr. Parker’s success at First Baptist Orlando but not his attitude.

The most humble man I have known was a retired missionary by the name of Clyde Dotson. He spent 35 years in Zimbabwe. He had no money and to my knowledge, never owed a home. He never received any recognition from the State Convention, IMB or any other SBC entity and yet he stood head and shoulders above every highly successful person I’ve ever met. Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Extra

Who would have thought we would be begging for rain in the first week of May. All the little thunder storm cells are missing me: two went south of me last night and one north. I have the best stand of corn I have had in years but it needs a rain. Oh well, it is a small problem compared to others.

I am speaking at the NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER service to be hosted by Southside Baptist Church in Decatur this Thursday at 11:30. Everyone is invited. You will not be called on to pray. They put it at lunch time so people can attend while on their lunch break. We probably had 75-100 last year. It will not be a sermon. It will be a challenge to pray…probably about 10 minutes. I do need your prayers.

There is hope that Roe V Wade will be overturned. I am praying that it is but if it is, the left will go nuts. I pray for the wicked house of abortion to fall everyday. May it crash and burn with nothing left but ashes. If My people will humble themselves, pray, seek My face and TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS. Abortion is wicked.

.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *