JESUS HUMBLED HIMSELF

 “Many would be scantily clad if clothed in their humility,” someone noted. 

Most of us may know of someone who was proud but “his chickens came home to roost” and he got his “comeupins,” a slang word for “comeuppance,” meaning “a well deserved rebuke or penally.”

The Bible says, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:8 NKJV).   

James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

This Old Testament verse sums up the idea: “Before honor is humility” (Proverbs 15:33). 

“Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil’s reach as humility,” Jonathan Edwards said.

Dwight L. Moody said, “God has nothing to say to the self-righteous. Unless you humble yourself before him in the dust, and confess before him your iniquities and sins, the gate of heaven, which is open only for sinners, saved by grace, must be shut against you forever.”  

“Humble” is defined as “having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance; not proud or haughty; not arrogant or assertive.”

“Humility is being free from pride and not thinking of yourself first,” someone said. “It is realizing your talents and gifts are from God, putting your worth in Him, admitting you can never live up to His holiness and perfection, seeing how much you need Him and asking for His help.”

Jesus Christ laid aside his Deity (his divineness) and demonstrated the greatest humility. 

Paul writes about Jesus’ humility in Philippians 2. Paul says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Who, being in the form of God … .” 

Paul says that Jesus was “in the form of God” but did not count equality with God a thing to be used for his own benefit. Jesus emptied himself, left heaven, and was born in human form, taking on the role of a servant. 

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:8-11).

Pastors refer to “the incarnation.” “Incarnate” means “embodied in flesh.” Jesus was born on earth as a baby — he took on flesh, was “embodied” in flesh. God assumed a human body and human nature and became a man in the form of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the second person of the Trinity. Christ was truly God and truly man during his earthly mission. 

In the New York Times Magazine, Nancy V. Raine told a story heard years ago from a friend named George: 

"In those days, work crews marked construction sites by putting out smudge pots with open flames. George’s 4-year-old daughter got too close to one and her pants caught fire like the Straw Man’s stuffing. The scars running the length and breadth of Sara’s legs looked like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. In the third grade she was asked, 'If you could have one wish, what would it be?' Sarah wrote: 'I want everyone to have legs like mine.'"

“When we suffer pain, we want others to understand,” says Craig B. Larson, who reported that story. “We want others to be like us so they can identify with us. We don’t want to be alone. … God does understand. When Jesus became a man, he did something far more difficult than having legs like Sarah’s.”

Jesus humbly put on a garment of flesh. “He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).

GOG AND MAGOG: WILL ISRAEL BE ATTACKED?

 The war in Ukraine is influencing gas prices. Food costs have risen. Ukraine and Russia make up 30 percent of global exports of wheat.  

Televangelist Pat Robertson has warned that end times are upon us, and Christians wonder if the Russia-Ukraine conflict will lead to a “Gog and Magog” attack on Israel?

“It should have been easy to predict that Russia was going to invade Ukraine,” says David Parsons, an attorney, ordained minister, and Middle East specialist. “It also was quite predictable that many Christians would instantly start connecting this conflict to the ‘War of Gog and Magog,’ the last days’ global confrontation described in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.”

Chapters 36 and 37 give prophecies of the great regathering of Israel in the last days. 

“Ezekiel’s vision of the ‘Valley of Dry Bones’ in chapter 37 depicts it as if the nation is literally resurrected from the dead – which in many ways aptly describes the miraculous rebirth of Israel [in 1948] as a nation just three years after the nadir [lowest point] of the Holocaust,” he says.

So what is the War of Gog and Magog? 

In Ezekiel 38, the prophet is told to deliver a warning to “Gog and Magog.” Gog is an individual and Magog is his land. (Other nations also will join in attacking Israel.)

“And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

2 “Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

3 “And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal

4 “And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour … ” (Ezekiel 38:1-4 KJV). 

“Ezekiel is clear the attack comes from the north, and those supposing biblical prophecy is being fulfilled note that that Moscow is directly north of Jerusalem. Thus, it is claimed the Ukraine war heralds the beginning of the end times,” says Dr. Calvin Smith of King's Evangelical Divinity School.   

Speculation about Gog and Magog has largely centered on Russia, or the former Soviet Union, and their allies coming against tiny Israel, Parsons says. 

Some appear to think the move against Israel can happen any day now. Others combine the war of Gog and Magog with the Battle of Armageddon, arguing that they are the same conflict. Others place the Gog-Magog aggression at the end of the Millennium, relying on additional prophetic passages found in the New Testament.

“Chapter 39 continues describing this same battle against Gog [Israel against Gog], while adding that the victory at God’s hand will be so complete, Israel will need seven months to bury the dead and seven years to burn the weapons of warfare,” Parsons says. 

Does the war in the Ukraine mean that events described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 are about to happen now?

Parsons appears to believe that the “Gog and Magog” war may take place after the Millennium, “the thousand years mentioned in Revelation during which holiness is to prevail and Christ is to reign on earth.” In the Revelation to John, the names Gog and Magog are applied to the evil forces that will join with Satan in the great struggle at the end of time (Revelation 20:7–10), after the Millennium, he says.

7 “And when the thousand years are expired,  Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

8 “And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

9 “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

10 “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Rev. 20:7-10 KJV).

Dr. Calvin Smith says, “Biblical prophecy has an important role to play in the life of the believer, demonstrating how God is in control of events and human history. … Yet the Bible is not a commentary on current affairs and attempts to utilize it in this manner are often sensational and false, turning many believers away from studying biblical prophecy. … It is best to avoid being dogmatic in identifying current events with biblical prophecy. We do not know how today’s scenario in the Ukraine will play out.”

EAT HIS FLESH? DRINK HIS BLOOD? ... JESUS TALKED BOLDLY

 What type of fish did Jesus multiply when he used “two small fishes” and five barley loaves to feed a crowd on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (John, chapter 6)?  

Writer Mohan Anthony says it’s better that the Bible didn’t tell the kind of fish Jesus multiplied because some folk would have made that kind of fish into an idol, or erected shrines to it, or held feasts for it, much to God’s displeasure.

John 6 also tells that the disciples boarded a ship without Jesus, who stayed to pray. Night fell and the sea roiled as a strong wind blew. The disciples rowed three or four miles and then saw Jesus walking on the water. Frightened, they heard Jesus say, “It is I, do not be afraid.” They took him into the boat.  

In Feb. 1999, the L.A. Times printed this headline: “You Too Can Walk on Water: Tourists will soon be able to simulate Jesus’ walking on water on the Sea of Galilee.”

The article says, “Israel’s National Parks Authority authorized construction of a submerged bridge in the lake, which has been a pilgrimage site since at least the 3rd century.”

They planned to build a 13-foot-wide, 28-foot-long, crescent-shaped floating bridge to be submerged two inches below water, able to accommodate up to 50 people. To enhance the “walking on water” effect, the bridge was to have no rails, but lifeguards and boats were to be on hand in case a walker slipped off.

I don’t think that bridge was built. It sounded like a bad idea for a tourist trap — and was perhaps sacrilegious. “Sacrilege” is “a violation or misuse of what is regarded as sacred.” 

In John 6, Jesus also said, preaching in the Capernaum synagogue, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe” (ESV). 

That didn’t sit well with the Jews. They grumbled about Jesus saying he was “the bread that came down from heaven.” 

They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”   

Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” 

Jesus said again, “I am the bread of life.” (Jesus was born in Bethlehem. “Bethlehem” means “house of bread.”)

Then Jesus told them that their ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, and they died, but that he was the bread that came down from heaven — the bread they could eat and NOT die.

“If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh,” Jesus said.

That threw the Jews into a tizzy. They said, among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 

Jesus went further, raising some of their blood pressures!  

“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you,” he said. “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

That sounded like cannibalism: the practice of eating the flesh of one’s own species. But Jesus was speaking about spiritual matters. 

Many disciples quit following Jesus after his talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Jesus said to his chosen 12 disciples, “Do you want to go away as well?” 

Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

  Some may follow Jesus for loaves and fish. Some may be intrigued by his miracles and his walking on water. But Jesus is the Living Bread. “Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever,” he said.

REMINDERS OF GOD

My mother, the late Mrs. Eva F. Crain (1922-1989), wrote this article in the summer of 1975.

   My mother, the late Eva F. Crain, is pictured above as she performed her work at Roger Huntington Nursing Home (now closed), Greer, South Carolina. She worked there 20 years after becoming a practical nurse in her 40s. 
 
  Being in the middle of my “middle years” and being saved during my young years of life, I am made to think about and appreciate the “Reminders” of God that He gives to us during our years. 

I am reminded so much of several things I heard my late father speak about. He said, to him, it was better to live a Christian life, even if there wasn’t a Heaven to gain. Another statement that really sticks with me that I heard him say was “We get so busy working for the Lord until we forget to work ‘WITH’ Him,” and how true I am finding this. 

I have never understood exactly why I had to go through a serious stomach surgery at the age of 40, but after I had the privilege to enter Practical Nursing at age 45, I could understand better, for maybe without the surgery, I would never have had the compassion for a sick person that I should, or maybe for the elderly people that I work with now. 

I have always been a believer in the supernatural power of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I knew if I didn’t receive the benefits, it was my fault and not God’s. I love the Scripture that says He will do exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or think, and then I don’t want to ever forget to praise Him for the good things. 

Not long ago, I was reminded again of the wonderful keeping power of God. My aunt had called one morning in  May to see if I wanted to go to a cloth shop for a little while, and I was willing — but I decided while I was waiting I would boil some eggs to be ready when I returned to make some lunch in a hurry. So I started the eggs boiling on “high.” Always before, when I leave the kitchen, I look back to see if all the burners are off on the stove. That morning when my aunt drove up in front of the house and blew the horn, I grabbed my pocket book, locked the door, and never one time looked back. 

We had finished our errands at the cloth shop, stopped to visit my husband’s mother nearby, and she wanted to fix us a sandwich for lunch, choosing between banana and egg. My aunt said, “I believe I’ll have a banana one for I had my egg at breakfast.” When she said “egg,” I remembered turning the eggs on “high” to boil and never going back to cut the burner off. I told her what I have remembered, so we were then eight miles from home. We hurried out, and she is not a fast driver, so we had eight miles to go, and she said after we started, “Let’s just pray,” so you can rest assured we did. 

When I arrived there and got the door unlocked, the house was filled with smoke, and there was a flame over the burner of about four or five inches high. I pushed the “off” button and grabbed a box of salt and poured some over the flame, which smothered the flame. But months later, at times, we can still smell the odor of charcoaled eggs. The eggs were almost burned completely “up” and the pan was not glued to the burner but had holes in the bottom, and another miracle was that when I pulled the tray from under the burner, there was something almost like a dust. You talk about praising God as I was carrying what was left of the pan and eggs, my heart was really doing that and rejoicing. Thank God for reminding me that the burner was still on under the eggs after being gone for around one hour and a half.

Then in the first part of July of the same year of 1975, my husband was on vacation, so my supervisor arranged some time from my working at the nursing center to have a few days with him. We decided to visit Pigeon Forge in Tennessee, and my husband does not like to drive on long trips, so my brother-in-law marked him a route on the map that he thought he could follow. But with all these different highways, he was a little dubious about it. All the time, we thought we were doing fairly well, when we realized instead of being on Route 40 West, we had taken 40 East, so I could see he was getting pretty uptight by now and very frustrated. I thank God for reminding me that if we call on Him, He will hear. In my heart, I was praying, “God, help us to get on the right highway” — when my husband decided to turn off the exit to the left. Going just a short way, there was a “Transportation Information Center,” and the lady showed him how to go back just a little ways and we were on the right road. Thank God for His reminders.

REAL HOLINESS

 “Holiness is back in vogue, or it should be,” read a headline in the Jan. 29, 2022 Greenville News.

“Wow!” I thought. “I want to hear about that.”  

The article I saw, by Shayne Looper, pastor of Lockwood Community Church in Branch County, Michigan, talks about H.B. Warner, who was cast as Jesus in the 1927 silent film “King of Kings.” 

Director Cecil B DeMille required Warner to sign a contract that kept him from taking roles for five years that might undermine his “holy” image in “King of Kings.” DeMille did not want Warner getting publicity that might impact the film in a negative way.

Warner was not allowed to play cards, go to ballgames, swim, or ride in a convertible. During filming, DeMille had Warner transported in a car with blings drawn. While walking from the car to the set, Warner had to wear a black veil, and he could not eat with other cast members.

DeMille’s effort to make Warner appear holy was not successful. 

The pressure to "look" Christlike drove Warner “over the edge,” Looper says. “During the production, he relapsed into his addiction to alcohol. It was the only way he knew to deal with all the stress.”

Cecil B. DeMille seemed to think that holiness was defined by the things a person does not do, Looper says.

The word “holiness” has lapsed into disuse in today’s culture and has often been misunderstood by those who think themselves holy, Looper says.

“Real holiness involves a return to the world [not backsliding into “worldly ways,” but returning to the world to affect it positively for Christ],” he notes. “Rather than seeking to escape the world, the genuinely holy person is God’s agent of love in the world. Rather than distancing oneself from others, the holy person is welcoming. Rather than being proud, which is the chief mark of counterfeit holiness, the holy person is humble.”

Leviticus 19 reveals what real holiness looks like in the real world, Looper says. “It does this by illustrating what it means to be God’s people in everyday situations.”
   
GOD IS HOLY

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy’” (Leviticus 19:1-2 ESV). 

“God’s holiness is a term used in the Bible to describe both his goodness and his power,” someone said. “Holiness radiates from God like an energy.”

“God is unlike any other, and his holiness is the essence of that ‘otherness,’” says a writer at gotquestions.org. ” 

“… I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst … ,” God says about himself (Hosea 11:9 ESV).
 
  HOW CAN WE BE HOLY?
 
  “If we have not placed our faith in God’s Son alone to save us from our sins, then our pursuit of holiness is in vain,” says gotquestions.org.

We must first make sure we are born-again (John 3:3 and 3:16). God makes us righteous (puts us in right-standing with him) when we accept Jesus who died for us. We can’t make ourselves righteous by our own efforts. 

All believers are saints (born-again people who are acknowledged by God as righteous) — not because we necessarily act like saints but because we ARE saints. Paul wrote, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ … ” (1 Corinthians 1:2 ESV). 

We are saints because of faith in Jesus, not because of efforts to be like Jesus. 

Only God can make us righteous AND holy. There is both “positional holiness” and “practical holiness.” Our positional holiness before God has been paid for by Jesus. Our practical holiness is something we can pursue as an offering in response to God’s directive to “be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” 

As we follow the Lord, we can dedicate ourselves (set ourselves apart) to him and practice doing the things he wants us to do. “Holy” means “set apart.” For something to be “holy” simply means for it to be dedicated to God, sources say. People who are positionally holy before God are holy because of faith in Jesus, but they are holy in a practical sense to the extent that their lives are devoted to God and their actions reflect God’s character.  

“ … [I]t is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16 KJV).

GOOD NEIGHBORS

   My late wife, Carol, and I bought our first house in 1974. It was located just north of Cherrydale in Greenville, SC. That house then cost $18,000. It was a pre-owned, 1050 sq. ft. house, that sat on a small lot. An older neighbor rang our doorbell and welcomed us.

“Hi, I’m Ralph Gerald,” he said. “I live up the street. This is a good neighborhood. Nobody bothers anybody.”

I wondered if our neighbors would be friendly and if Mr. Gerald was giving me a warning — a warning not to bother anyone. LOL.

“Love your neighbor as yourself; but don’t take down the fence,” Carl Sandburg said.

Arthur Baer quipped, “A good neighbor is a fellow who smiles at you over the back fence, but doesn’t climb over it.”

Harry S. Truman said, “In order to have good neighbors, we must also be good neighbors. That applies in every field of human endeavor.” 

Carol and I liked the house we bought and learned to love our neighbors. 

In the book titled Can a Busy Christian Develop Her Spiritual Life? Jill Briscoe wrote this: 

“Years ago, as I waited in line at a local shop, I heard the gossip. My neighbor’s husband had left her. The night before he had packed his things into a van and driven out of her life.

“I knew my neighbor casually. When we did speak, which wasn’t often, it was about the weather. Our subdivision was the type where people led their own lives and neighbors didn’t really get to know one another. 

“When I returned home, I struggled with what to do. Should I visit my neighbor, or pretend I knew nothing about her situation and go on with my day? In my mind I could see her sitting at her kitchen table, alone. She was in her fifties and the kids were grown. 

“Finally, I got up the courage and walked over to her house. When she opened her door, I said, “I heard through the grapevine your husband left you last night. Can I do anything to help?”

“Immediately, she burst into tears and said, ‘Come in. Come in.’ I spent the entire morning with her — listening, putting my arm around her, and having coffee. But it was the start of a relationship.”     

“And who is my neighbor?” A lawyer asked Jesus.

Jesus answered: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 

“Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 

“So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 

“But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 

“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 

The lawyer said, “The one who showed him mercy.” 

And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” 

  — (From Luke 10:25-37 ESV)
 
  NEIGHBOR Verses (from ESVersion)

“Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor” (Proverbs 14:21).

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).

“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.  Never be wise in your own sight” (Romans 12:16).

“Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away” (Proverbs 27:10b).

“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause” (Isaiah 1:17).

“‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Jesus in Mark 12:30-31).

DETECTING A SCAM

  

  One morning, sitting at the dining room table, I answered the phone after one ring — should have let the answering machine get it. 

“Hello, Grandpa,” a male voice said. 

“Hello,” I said, knowing I don’t have grandchildren.

“This is Kyle,” he said. “I’ve had an accident in Georgia, and they’ve brought me to the police department because my car’s messed up and there are some minor charges. I hope you can help me by calling my lawyer.” 

I thought it might be Kyle, Barbara’s grandson who is his thirties. Once, while he was over at our house and helping his father, Jack, Barbara’s son, work in the garage out back, he called me “grandpa.” 

“The officer has given me only a few minutes to call,” he said. My case number is _______ (he gave me a long list of numbers). Please call my lawyer.” 

I asked, “What is your mother’s name?”

“Officer, I’m getting off now, … .” he said.

The phone went dead. 

Barbara wondered what I was doing.

“He says he’s Kyle and has been in a wreck and is Georgia,” I said. “I’m pretty sure it’s a scam.” 

I called the number for his “lawyer.” 

“Hello,” a nice lady’s voice said. I think she gave me a name. I told her the case number. 

“Yes, we have that here,” she said. I think she gave me Kyle’s name. “What is your name?”

“My name is Steve,” I said.

“What is your last name?” she asked. 

“I’d rather not say,” I said..

“We can’t give out details of the case unless you give us your last name,” she said.

I hung up the phone.

Barbara called Jack. He said his son Kyle was not in Georgia.

DECEPTION

Craig Brian Larson tells this story: 

The Portia spider is a predator whose chief weapon is deception. To begin with, says Robert R. Jackson in National Geographic, the spider looks like a piece of dried leaf or foliage blown into the web. When it attacks other species of spiders, it uses a variety of methods to lure the host spider into striking range. 

Sometimes it crawls onto the web and taps the silken threads in a manner that mimics the vibrations of a mosquito caught in the web. The host spider comes out for dinner and instead becomes a meal itself. 

The Portia spider can tailor its deception for its prey. With a type of spider that maintains its home inside a rolled-up leaf, the Portia dances on the outside of the leaf, imitating a mating ritual. 

Jackson writes, “Portia can find a signal for just about any spider by trial and error. It makes different signals until the victim spider finally responds — then keeps making the signal that works.” 

Like the Portia spider, Satan’s weapon of choice is deception.   

THE BIBLE on DECEIT

“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 12:22a ESV).

“Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue” (Psalm 120:2). 

“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (Jesus words in John 8:44).  

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8 ESV).  

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).