When we stay hidden and push Christ forward in all things, He is the one who is recognized and noticed, not us. When we stay hidden behind his robe in all we do, it is his person that others recognize in us. It was the great evangelist, D.L. Moody who said, “The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. . . . I will try my utmost to be that man.”
John the Baptist said it well, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) It is in decreasing from self, pride, and our own insecurities, placing all at the cross, under the blood of Christ, that he can increase over our lives. The increase of Christ is measured in the fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”[1] As this fruit increases, flowing from our heart, so it is that Christ shines more brightly through us.
Harry Truman once said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” I might alter this to read, “It is a supernatural work God can do, when we give him all the glory for what happens.” God is searching for men and women whom he can mightily use, flow through, and empower that will worship him with their whole heart and give him all the credit for his supernatural power, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” (2 Chron 16:9)
Jesus could understand that the fickleness of men and the popularity of the masses as a dangerous realm. Even as his fame was increasing he said, “I do not receive honor from men.” (John 5:41). He told those whom he had healed “See that you tell no one…” (Matt. 8:4) He warned his disciples to be careful with parading religious good works before others, “When you pray…pray to your father who is in the secret place,” (Matt. 6:6) “When you fast…do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your father who is in the secret place.” (Matt. 6:16~18) Jesus chose to hide himself in his heavenly father by often removing himself from the adoring crowds and seeking his father in “deserted places.” It was away from the ministry, the needs, the broken bodies, that he found security in his father’s love.
It was in the wilderness that Jesus heard the words, “You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” It was in the deserted places that he reaffirmed those words in his heart. Finding his father in solitude, in aloneness, in quiet places truly seems to have been the mark of his humility.
Peter, one who struggled more than all the apostles to understand his need for trust in Christ was the one, later in life, who said,
…be clothed with humility, for
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”[2]
What an interesting statement, “be clothed with humility…” What does that mean?
On The Road
Steve
[1] The New King James Version. 1982 (Ga 5:22–23). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[2] The New King James Version. 1982 (1 Pe 5:5). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
