As I began a few weeks ago to teach on Sunday nights through the book of Second Corinthians, I did not anticipate fully the amount of emphasis that we would experience on the issue of our commitment to reconcile our conflicts with one another. The context for Paul’s letter to the Christians at Corinth is one of “strained relationship” but I suppose I may have been a little naïve about the degree of trouble between him and the Corinthian Christians. Layering this portion of God’s Word over my own life as a believer, a church member and a pastor I am really being impacted about how deep is my own need to cultivate relational humility long before an occasion arises that I will need it. There’s a problem with this however: I am called to humility but more skilled at hostility. Humility is a virtue I must work toward. Hostility comes naturally. Does that sound like a harsh self-indictment? Well, it just so happens to be true about you too.
We are born selfish. Babies are the closest things to true savages that humans can observe. Everything is physical and instinctive – for babies there is no reason, no logic and zero selfless humility. They eat, sleep, scream and demand until their satisfaction comes. How many purposefully sacrificial toddlers have you met in your life? Let me answer for you: None. Little children are naturally self-focused and will display overt outrage when their sovereignty is infringed upon. Visit your local Pre-K class or church nursery and you will see a microcosm of Armageddon when one toddler dares to take the toy of one of his peers. I’m telling you the inconvenient truth: apart from growth and grace, we can, on varying levels, remain savages at heart. Savages act according to the lowest level of man’s nature; it’s survival of the fittest, kill or be killed, dice-it-up and devour. We just don’t like to view it like that because we assume that we are the exception to that rule. Well, we aren’t the exception but we can be given an exit from our base nature of hostility & selfishness.
How we might live: “I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish – that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.” – 2 Corinthians 12:20 {ESV}
How we must live: “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” – Ephesians 4:1-3 {ESV}
Paul was writing to Christians in both of the above sets of verses. He did not deny the potential for disciples of Christ to act in a manner that is more consistent with the spawns of Satan. He noted our potential for fighting, envy, wrath, hatred and demeaning speech – sounds like extremely skilled savages to me! Yet, before we despair, Paul also clearly indicates that we have the ability to interact with each other selflessly, gently, patiently, lovingly and proactively as we desire to cultivate unity and peace in our relationships – sounds like followers of Jesus to me!
So which one is better representing you lately? A savage or a saint? Selfless or selfish? Humility or hostility?
Because these are extremes of character that don’t perfectly sum up our own personality, we might be tempted to ignore the issue. More than likely you have a little of both the savage and the saint grappling for control of your inner-person. Happily, God is gracious, relentless and passionately committed to forming us into the very likeness of His Son. There is surely a process going on in your life today that is putting the savage to death and bringing the saint to the forefront. He’s using both blessing and burden to perfect His plan for you. He’s utilizing the chisel and the polish as He fashions you. In His toolbox there rests both hammer and adhesive which He expertly employs to knock some things off of you and tightly fasten some things within you. Don’t despair as you realize that you’re not completely finished. Also, don’t ever presume that you are at the last hour on the Potter’s wheel and near to your perfection. The birth of a soul is the miracle of a moment but the making of a saint in the project of a lifetime.
Let’s just rejoice that He’s placed His eyes upon us and has determined in love to make us fully His own. Heaven will populated with savages – former savages who have been made everlasting saints. This is, yet again, GRACE.
“The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.”-Ps 138:8
My joke is that I am skilled at being selfless…and then I encounter a human.
The only path to selflessness I have discovered so far is humility.
And my path to humility is to remember who I was before accepting the cross.
Equally, to be aware of who I am in behaviors and attitudes not yet surrendered.
Ever on the potter’s wheel…
Thanks again.