Annie
Scriptures: 1 Peter 1:3-9 Malachi 3: 16-18 Micah 6:8
For many years now I have had a couple of treasured items in my possession that mean more to me than any amount of gold or silver. One is a hand carved spoon made for me from a piece of native New Zealand timber off the broken branch of a Rata tree that my then teenage son rescued from a river. The other is a hand knitted pair of slippers made out of baby wool on tiny gauge needles for me by my then teenage daughter. A wooden spoon and a pair of slippers, precious and irreplaceable, because they were made especially for me by my two precious, irreplaceable children.
Somehow, despite knowing how much these humble, hand made gifts mean to me, I still find it hard to believe how much my humble, hand made gifts mean to our Abba Father God. God never despises anything that we may do or bring Him, when it is done out of love and immense gratitude for the salvation given to us by His Grace alone. He sees our tatty little bunches of weeds as glorious bouquets of unique, fragrant blooms; our misshaped, unevenly baked biscuits as the finest of gourmet cookies. My children didn’t make me those wonderful gifts because they were forced to, they wanted to do something for me, just for me. God will never force us to honour Him, He delights in us doing it because we want to do it just for Him.
As we begin to see that God adores our efforts, however meagre they may appear to us, perhaps it gives another meaning to walking humbly with Him. According to the words in the book of Micah, God is showing us what is good and what He requires of us, including walking humbly with Him. He abhors pride, in whatever guise it is delivered. What is truly good is walking with Him, clothed in the Righteousness of God Himself, for only then can our walk be “good”, one of humility and justice, full of mercy.
Our Saviour spent the whole of His time on this Earth, walking humbly with His Father God, always in communion with Him, listening to His voice, laughing with Him, weeping with Him. No matter where He was, all He did was done to honour and glorify His Father, as testimony to the Righteousness and Goodness of God. This is the relationship that God wants with all of His children, His precious, irreplaceable children. It is a relationship He has planned since before time began, He has even prepared the good works that He then gives us credit for doing, this leaves no room for our prideful nature to rear it’s ugly head in any of this scenario.
When God sees us, He sees us clothed in His Righteousness, the Righteousness that cost so much, the Righteousness that is our access to an eternity in the presence of God. We are totally unworthy to be granted this privilege, our robe of sinful pride can never be accepted into God’s kingdom. Our worth is only in God Himself; only as we turn away from our selfish, self serving life, and in humility and gratitude, taking on the Life of Christ, His worthiness, are we able to walk humbly with our God.
If we can begin to understand how God sees us and do our best to see ourselves in the same way, any vestige of pride in ourselves, our way, our logic must melt away. If we can take the first few steps of humbly walking with our God, the intensity of our love, our gratitude will grow with each step we take. We can grow in the confidence of coming into God’s presence, not arrogantly but in the way He desires, full of love for Him, full of joy.
Prayer: Abba Father, as we honour and glorify You, as we yearn to walk with You in the same manner that our Lord and Saviour did, we will truly begin to know You more and more. The joy of holding Your Hand, walking side by side with You for all of eternity begins with us laying aside our foolish pride. Grant us Your Grace to daily lay down our lives and live in the Life Christ bought for us, in Your Kingdom, right now. Through Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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