Our Feat...to be at His

To be at His feet...what a place. Right there where He can easily, without obstruction touch me. This is the place of vulnerability. The place of humility. The place of need. This is the place we fight against in our self-sufficient flesh. But why?

Lord, help me be OK at Your feet. Don't let me fret about what You might want me to do or what I might not understand or what might be hard. Give me faith to trust You to be true to who You are. I worship You...at Your feet. In Jesus Name, Amen.

~Jon
Enjoy this article from Ron about humility.

Our Feat… to be at His
by Ron Bergthold

How does a violinist change a light bulb? (Answer: She just holds on and the world revolves around her.)

Auditions: those necessary but slightly malevolent judgments used to determine who will become part of a group. Or who will sit which chair or lead the section. Many of us are glad audition days are over, but we still make our own informal judgments of our and others’ abilities. Our emotions and self-worth can be buoyed when we compare favorably, but just as likely can sink in despair when we don’t feel we measure up.

The best receive so much praise and even worship that pride creeps in and tries to take up permanent residence alongside the talent. This can become a life-long battle. The rest of us, while working hard to avoid the other pitfalls of envy and jealousy when measuring our own meager skills, still like to be praised periodically. And when praise does come to us, even a small dose can quickly awaken our own pride. Are talent and humility then mutually incompatible?

Jesus, the greatest talent ever on earth, humbled Himself from the glory of heaven to the point of dying on a lowly cross. His humility did not tone down His talent, but accentuated it. Being humble actually means to make oneself low, so the biblically obedient among us may aim toward a self-debasing attitude and try to consider ourselves worthless. But that does not describe Jesus’ actions!

Jesus became low by first glorifying and obeying His Father and then lifting up, encouraging, and helping those around Him. This humility compelled Him to serve men in ways ranging from the lowly (washing His disciples’ feet) to the amazingly talented (raising the dead!). James reflected on Jesus’ earthly work and summed it up in verse 4:10 of the book he penned by saying, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James had noticed how many people appeared before our Lord with a sincere need and how Jesus famously served the need through talent granted by His Father.

We do not need a church of people who continually put themselves (or others!) down. We need people who are constantly looking up to God and seeing Him as more important than anyone or anything else. We must live at His feet. Only this upward perspective can transform each of our God-given talents into truly useful service to others that pleases Him.

For the TRBC Orchestra on January 14, 2009