Have you ever been attacked verbally, harassed by a group that believes by cutting down someone, they elevate themselves? What are we do to? The flesh shouts, return fire, fan the flames, and go mano a mano (hand to hand) with those that persecute you. But are we to follow the desires of the flesh? Nope.
Did you ever think about the concept of humility. Ben Franklin tried to incorporate that virtue into his character, but never made much progress. He admitted later that even if He had succeeded, he would have been proud of it.
Another concept is "meekness." Some mistakenly equate meekness with weakness but that misses the point. Meekness refers to power under control. So when we are hit with the "fiery darts of the wicked" to borrow an apt phrase from the KJV, we control the power of our fleshly desires to have us hit back. How could we do such a thing. Humility.
Humility is not so much what we do toward others, it has much to do with what we allow others to do to us, to take body blows, even nails driven into our hands, being restrained not by fear or weakness, but by our love for God and for those who persecute us.
Some of you may have owned a dog. My Dad did, it was called "old joe." My Dad did not like it much. It licked him and followed him everywhere he went. One day, while walking across a field, an rattlesnake raised its head and rattled and prepared to strike. But that dog, who took the ear pulling, the kicking, the mishandling of three kids, stopped that snake with his life.
Power under control, restrained by love demonstrates humility.
Did you ever think about the concept of humility. Ben Franklin tried to incorporate that virtue into his character, but never made much progress. He admitted later that even if He had succeeded, he would have been proud of it.
Another concept is "meekness." Some mistakenly equate meekness with weakness but that misses the point. Meekness refers to power under control. So when we are hit with the "fiery darts of the wicked" to borrow an apt phrase from the KJV, we control the power of our fleshly desires to have us hit back. How could we do such a thing. Humility.
Humility is not so much what we do toward others, it has much to do with what we allow others to do to us, to take body blows, even nails driven into our hands, being restrained not by fear or weakness, but by our love for God and for those who persecute us.
Some of you may have owned a dog. My Dad did, it was called "old joe." My Dad did not like it much. It licked him and followed him everywhere he went. One day, while walking across a field, an rattlesnake raised its head and rattled and prepared to strike. But that dog, who took the ear pulling, the kicking, the mishandling of three kids, stopped that snake with his life.
Power under control, restrained by love demonstrates humility.
