Humility in the Face of the Adversary

To start off this page I would like to explain a bit about my "normal" Sunday routine. On the average Sunday, my schedule involves waking up far too early,(like 7:00am) getting all of my church stuff ready, and heading out for Sunday morning church service.

Recently the men of the Durie family have started a weekly bible study, taking place Sunday afternoons. Grandpa and I had met in the past for bible studies, and we just thought it would be a great idea to start meeting again. But why not include the rest of the dudes? The guys involved are Grandpa, Dad, Uncle Darrell, my cousin Elijah, my brother Colton, my brother Gideon, and I. We try to meet ever Sunday possible, unless someone gets sick or has another event.

Ever since we started this study God has showed me so many things through His Word. The results of simply reading His Word are shocking, and totally awesome. A lot of the things God has been speaking to me about lately are things that He has already showed me. But living in a sinful world, and dwelling in selfish and prideful body and mind I easily forget God's Word. I feel that the only way to remember the things He teaches, and really thrive is to constantly be reading it, memorizing it, and meditating on it. Dad brought up a quote today that I really like.

"The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible."  D.L. Moody

So, if you are not walking in the Word, you will be living in sin. Even if you are saved. If we are walking in the Word daily, it will be harder to sin. It will be easier to say NO to temptation, and YES to obedience. Once we stop reading the Bible, the evil of the world starts to work on us. We are easily deceived by the lies of the world. Without truth, we are going to start molding to the ways of the world.

God speaks to us in new ways each time we read the same verse. For me, often I will read a verse, interpret it a certain way, then read it again later, and get even more out of it. There is such a thing as the Holy Ghost, and He does speak to us through His Word beyond just the plain text. He speaks to our hearts. Not that we should go overboard, and change the meaning of the Scriptures. God forbid that! Eh...I am kinda really off track right now so I will continue.

Today we read Matthew 5:17-26. The verses that really stood out to me today were verses 21-26

"You have heard that is was said to those of old, You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny."

Reading the MacArthur study notes on verse 25, there was a reference to Corinthians 6:7 Being a reference to just one verse I wanted to go back a little bit and read the big picture. So I read Corinthians 6:1-8.


"Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? ² Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? ³ Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? ⁴ If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? ⁵ I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? ⁶ But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!
⁷ Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? ⁸ No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!" 
  
Through all of this I realize that we are often offended. Really often. We are often annoyed. Really often. We are often cheated, we are often wronged. Really often. But, we often offend, annoy, cheat, and wrong people ourselves. More than we even realize probably. We need to be slow to anger, slow to inappropriate behavior, and according to verse 25 of Matthew 5, we need to be quick to make it right with the person. Even if it means sacrificing something, whether it be sacrificing the pride of being right, or the right of being right even if you are right. Even if you didn't sin, and were wronged by someone, it is just plain better to make it right rather than to hold bitterness toward that person. Even if they never have a change of heart. Better to make peace between you and your adversary swiftly than to hold harsh feelings of hatred, distaste, or fear. 

God is telling me to be nice. He is telling me to place higher priority on reconciliation than on justice. He is telling me to just give it up for good reasons. The more I think about it the more obvious it is. To be kind, or to be bitter? To be patient, or to be short? To be forgiving, or to hold a grudge? 

Hey, what would Jesus do? I think Jesus would be kind, patient, and forgiving. Actually, I know he would. So, it is clear to me the way I need to treat others, even when wronged, whether of big or small offense. 

I kinda need to work on this.

Actually...

I really need to work on this.

So, I will work on this. It is going to take time, prayer, and dropping selfish feelings. But God commands this of us. And God is with us every single step! We need to show humility, we need to be kind. Even to the face of our greatest human adversaries on earth. I don't really have any super big enemies in life, but I sure do need to show more kindness. I feel like I am totally repeating stuff over and over again.