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Topics: Humility, Worship, Obedience, Singing
Our pastor had been after my wife and I for several weeks. He was convinced that we should sing a special on some Sunday morning. This was fine with my wife...she has a voice like a canary. I, however, have a voice like a different feathered creature. Something between a crow and a buzzard. I cannot sing. God has blessed me with many talents and abilities...but singing is not one of them.
Still, my pastor persisted. Finally, after much prodding, I agreed to
sing a special with my wife on the following Sunday. I failed to realize
that the coming Sunday was our church's Homecoming.
Mistake number one.
We arrived at church that bright and beautiful morning. My wife was in a chipper mood. (just like a canary!) I was more like the canary who saw the cat coming...I was a nervous wreck.
The time arrived for us to sing our special. The pastor introduced us, we went forward. Mistake number two. The music started and we began singing. For about five seconds, things went well. Then, it all fell apart. Being nervous, my voice cracked just slightly. For some strange reason, this tickled my wife. She began to giggle. Then I began to giggle.
Then the entire, filled to capacity, congregation began to giggle. We regained our composure for about 10 seconds and then I began to laugh again. Then, my wife began to laugh. Then the congregation. It was a vicious cycle.
That four minute song lasted for eight weeks, or so it seemed. Finally, the torture was over and we slunk back to our seats. We buried our faces in our Bibles and hoped that the rapture would take place and Jesus would call us home.
That is just how God wants you and I. Embarrassed? No. Timid and insecure? No. Afraid to show our faces? No. Low self esteem? No. To the contrary, God wants us to be boldly obedient, full of confidence and assurance. He wants us out in the open, His Children, possessing an empowered life.
How then does God want each of us who are His to be like my wife and
I on that Homecoming morning? He wants each of us absolutely and completely
stripped of pride.
We didn't have an ounce of it in us as we sat there on that pew. You
could have asked us to clean the bathrooms, pick up trash on the lawn,
minister in a foreign land...anything, and we would have been happy to
do it.
Obedience begins with humility. You will never obey God unless you humble
yourself before Him. You will never consistently obey Him unless you are
stripped of pride. God wants us to understand that we are "fearfully and
wonderfully made" in His image, that we are most precious in His sight,
that we are
somebody special...but He also wants us to be emptied of self that
He might work through us, instead of us trying to work on our own.
You see, God can accomplish great things through a child who is humbly
obedient. Contrast that with the child who is self-reliant and proud...seldom
do you see a real movement of God. And so, sometimes, God allows us to
sing off key and make fools of ourselves in front of the crowd...so He
can get us in a position where we can be used of Him. Sometimes He chooses
to humble us so we can
receive His blessings.
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you
up."
James 4:10
Excerpted from "It's a Wonderful Life, In Christ" by Jimmy D. Bro