August 2020 Articles

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Spiritual Corner: Humility Unmasked

Spiritual Corner: Humility Unmasked
“And He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:” –Luke 18:9
I came across this scripture last month when I was reading my Bible. It’s short, but it jumped out at me. I couldn’t help but think about how applicable it was to so many of us during these highly political and stressful times. I knew as soon as I read it that I wanted to write my Spiritual Corner on it. I feel like this scripture speaks volumes. We don’t even have to know what the parable is that Jesus was about to share to be convicted by this scripture and learn from it. This scripture is saying that Jesus was about to share a parable with people who saw themselves as righteous—they trusted in what they thought or believed—and they despised others. Doesn’t this sound familiar in our world today? I personally am disgusted every time I get on any type of social media. Why? Because at least 75% of the posts I see appear to be posted by people who think that what THEY believe is the Gospel and if you believe something different, well then, you’re dumb. I honestly read through posts and think to myself… “What was the point in them posting that? Why did they think that was necessary?” We’ll use the current mask mandate as an example. Okay…I honestly don’t care if you don’t think masks work or you think being required to wear them is stupid. That’s your opinion. But is it really necessary to post something that berates someone else who believes they do help? One of my favorites is a post that has gone around Facebook that says something about people who are wearing their mask while driving alone in their car. Basically, the post makes fun of people who they see wearing a mask in the car, alluding to the fact that these people basically must be idiots. Every time I see the post, I get angry. Did the person posting this childish and mean post ever think that maybe the person had the mask on while doing an errand and had to get in the car to drive 2 minutes down the road just to get out again and they simply did not want to take it off just to have to put it back on? And even if that wasn’t the case and they just wanted to wear it while in their car…WHO CARES?!?! There is absolutely zero reason to make a post making fun of them. It’s simply not necessary. It’s called being a decent human being. Even as I’m typing this, I am feeling convicted because I may not post things making fun of other people, but I am sure there are times that I talk to my friends or family and joke about others in a not-so-nice way. Why do we do things like this? Is it because we really feel like we are so much smarter and better than others? Do we despise other people who don’t do things exactly as we do? These are some questions to consider. I feel like this scripture is extremely prevalent in regards to our country and political parties. I know that the Democratic and Republican parties aren’t new, however, it seems that with every passing day, the people who make up these parties are becoming more and more divided. I truly believe that a lot of people agree or disagree with something simply because it is a Democratic or Republican belief. For example, if a Republican suggests something, majority of Democrats are against it simply because it was suggested by a Republican. And if a Democrat suggests something, Republicans think it is an absolutely terrible idea just because a Democrat suggested it. People can deny this is true all they want, but I see it every day. We have gotten so caught up in thinking that we are so righteous and our beliefs are right NO MATTER WHAT. We are so jaded in our thinking now that we are allowing it to cause us to truly despise others. I will tell you right now…if you hate Donald Trump, you are wrong. If you hate Joe Biden, you are wrong. If you HATE, you are wrong. God hates sin (Romans 6:23), but He still loves every single person, regardless of their sin (1st Timothy 2:4). And let’s face it, we ALL sin. But just because you might strongly abhor something that someone else does or believes, that doesn’t mean you should hate that person and show your hatred by the things you post or say about them. How is that showing God’s love? God tells us to love everyone, even our enemies (Matthew 5:44). Jesus shows this multiple times during his life on earth. When Peter cuts off the ear of a solider who was trying to arrest Jesus, what does Jesus do? He heals the soldier’s ear and rebukes Peter (Luke 22:51). When Jesus is sent to the cross and He’s mocked, beat, spit on, etc. what does He do? He prays, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). If Jesus didn’t despise others, don’t you think we should follow His example? We can’t just strive to be like Jesus in the areas that come easy to us and live however we want to in the difficult areas. It’s okay if we struggle with loving the seemingly unloveable—the most important thing is that we’re trying. We’re told in the Bible that we will go through trials (Acts 14:22). One of the trials we face may very well be the trial of trying to show love to an enemy. But God will give us the strength to endure (1st Peter 5:10). God also instructs us numerous times in scripture to be humble (Luke 14:11, James 4:10, James 4:6). When we think that what we believe politically is right, to the point of talking down to or about others, then we are not behaving in a humble manner. I believe the signs of humility can be seen in a person who listens to others, even if they don’t agree. They also acknowledge someone else’s beliefs and opinions, without criticizing them. They are able to disagree with someone else and still be civil to them. Humility seems fairly scarce in our society today. Also, (and this convicts me for sure), even if we act publicly in a way that would please Jesus, we still shouldn’t go home to our spouse or our friend and act a different way, by gossiping about someone or making fun of someone (Luke 8:17, Proverbs 15:3). I think that what we all need to do right now, during these uncertain times, is to stop trusting in ourselves as Luke 18:9 at the top of this article says, and start trusting solely in God. To trust solely in God means we have to KNOW God. And to know God, means we know His goodness and His love and we become familiar with the way He wants us to live. The deeper we know God, the more we will want to live in a way that pleases Him. I suggest we stop obsessing over who’s right and who’s wrong. We stop bullying others and making fun of others. Instead, we start pouring ourselves into God’s Word and start living out His Word in our lives. I believe if we do that, then we will be more humble and we will be more reluctant to whisper about someone or post something offensive on Facebook. I believe it will cause us to actually consider another person’s point of view and, instead of hating someone because of what they believe, it will cause us to simply care to understand them. And perhaps it will help us to show them with our words and actions how God is the answer to all of life’s stresses and problems. --Dana Alexander

P.S. I hope you will take the time to look up the scriptures that I referenced throughout this article.