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Anonymous
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December 30 - December 31, 2019
We become what we were always intended to be: right with God.
Only God has ultimate, eternal significance, and the only way we mortals get it is by joining our lives to His.
He is our significance.
Again, we see that our worth is implied by the great love with which He loves
Now here’s the wild part. God has adopted you. He has named you, comforted you, disciplined and provided for you. And because you are His true son or daughter, He has also named you in His “will” to be an equal heir with your divine brother, Jesus Christ. Can you wrap your mind around the sheer grace involved in your situation? You, who have absolutely no right to anything of God’s, share in everything He is and owns.
The same is true for us. While we experience God’s love, discipline, wisdom, care, and generous provisions in this life, we have to wait for death (in this case, ours) before we will know and take hold of the bulk of our inheritance as God’s children.
When we accept that our value is not dependent on what we do or accomplish, we are ironically liberated to do much for Christ. Not “much” in the ways for which we’ve striven up to this point, but “much” in terms of fulfilling the two greatest commandments: loving God and loving others (Matt. 22:34–40). It makes sense, doesn’t it? How can we possibly love God or love others from a pure heart while we’re chasing after frivolities to confirm our value?
The sower sows the word … [Some seeds] are sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word, but the worries of this age, the seduction of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (Mark 4:14, 18–19, emphasis added)
When we rightly understand that God is the owner of all and everything we have is on loan, our hearts will be free from pride in what we have.
Living for an audience of One is at the heart of embracing obscurity.
The committed Christian’s unhealthy ambitions may take different forms than you’d expect from general society, but unless our pride is intentionally and ruthlessly cut out of our lives, it can be just as dangerous—maybe even more so.
God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of
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Make Your ways known to me, Lord; teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; I wait for You all day long… . [You lead] the humble in what is right, and [teach] them [Your] way. (Ps. 25:4–5, 9)
One of the beauties of focusing our priority energies on kingdom work is that we don’t have much to lose if our earthly pursuits don’t turn out the way we hope. When we care more about serving and loving God and others than we do about achieving our goal of the week, we won’t be ruffled if we go home with the “honorable mention” ribbon at work, school, or play.
Service and embracing obscurity are so permanently and irrevocably intertwined, we have no choice but to master the former before we’ll be able to enjoy the latter.
The “flow” of Christ’s love which I gave to others depended on my mood, the health of my career, and even how much sleep I got the night before. Mine was (and still often is) a self-righteous, self-gratifying service. In contrast I noticed a soaker hose in the planter across from me. It watered the ground completely indiscriminately. Dozens of holes let the water loose and had no shut-off switch. Life-giving water oozed out all over the place, like it or not! To serve like a soaker hose means to pour out Christ’s love from every pore of our beings, not concerning ourselves with the timing, the
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Why should they rule over the trees when they could bless, honor, give, and cheer right where they were planted? The olive, fig, and vine each chose obscurity over fame because they understood the high calling and pleasures of service. Such wisdom in their response!
Better to forfeit position than God-given purpose; and we know for certain that we were made to serve. As Andrew Murray said, “Being servants of all is the highest fulfillment of our destiny, as men created in the image of God.”
Once a man has experienced the mercy of God in his life he will henceforth aspire to serve. The proud throne of the judge no longer lures him; he wants to be down below with the lowly and the needy, because that is where God found him.8
The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds (Matt. 22:37–38). We’ve already seen how suffering changes you and me, enabling us to love God more fully. Yet suffering also plays a part in our obedience to the second greatest commandment: to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:39). Through suffering we are enabled to love, give, support, stand by, encourage, and empathize with our neighbors in ways we were never able to before.
Because Christ gave up divine privileges and embraced obscurity for the love of us—because He suffered—He not only secured glory and honor from His Father and every nation on Earth, but He was also able to give us two gifts we could never attain on our own: reconciliation with God and eternal life with Him.
He loved us radically enough to suffer the most excruciating pain possible—separation from His Father—to rescue us.
Those who are forgiven much love much (Luke 7:47), and those who are the recipients of the benefits of suffering should be the first in line to suffer for others. Our love for and devotion to Christ, coupled with our desire to follow His example, should compel us to suffer on others’ behalves with enthusiasm—with gusto.
Yes, God works all—even our suffering—for our good, but the end result may well look different than you had hoped. Will you still trust God if your “good” is to go on embracing obscurity—living in simplicity and devotion to Him—your entire life? What if your “good” is to understand the deepest depths of suffering so that you have more to give to others who walk through dark times? Would you mind if your “good” is only a greater understanding of the suffering Jesus went through on your behalf and mine? What if your “good” is soley to make His name great? All of God’s ways are good and true.
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Suffering has enabled him to lay ambition aside and only want the position if God leads him there.
If we are seeking glory, honor, and immortality before God, daily and quiet persistence, faithfulness and obedience is the road to get there. Anonymous sufferings are actually the best kind, Jesus tells us—otherwise, others might recognize us and compliment us and that, alone, will be our reward. Gary Thomas6
When we accept our suffering as an opportunity to have more to give rather than get, humility is born. And this kind of humility—the kind Christ modeled for us—you’ll remember, is the beginning of embracing obscurity.
By God’s grace we have the privilege of comparing our lives to the gospel; of making sure we are walking worthy. This isn’t about earning our salvation by extreme measures or trying to finagle special favors from God. We can’t let our attempts to walk worthy of the gospel be driven by fear, drudgery, or guilt. Living a life worthy of the gospel—a mysterious life, indeed—should be a natural and joyful response to the crazy love God offers us. As Jesus taught, those who understand just how much they have been forgiven can’t help but live lives sold out for their Redeemer (see Luke 7:41–47).
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when we embrace obscurity we might find that we have all the time we need to focus on what’s truly important.
we just might have more time to enjoy the life God has already given us.
“If we are to share [Christ’s] glory, we must also share his suffering” (Rom. 8:17 nlt; see also 2 Cor. 1:7 and 4:10). Power over death and our eternal inheritance are contingent on sharing in Christ’s sufferings on Earth, part of which includes being hated and misunderstood by the world.
“he will look after those who have been pressed into the consequences of our obedience.”
Will we use the spotlight for God’s glory or our own? Will we allow the spotlight to illuminate the way, or will we be blinded by it?
The spotlight itself isn’t inherently good or evil, but being the center of attention sure carries with it a whole lot of temptation.
In other words, you and I are no different from anyone else. Really.
Clearly, you and I are not essential. So the fact that God has chosen to infuse us with talents and consecrate us for service to Himself—despite where we’ve “come from”—should keep us eternally and humbly devoted.
“Everything good you see in me is because of Jesus. Everything else isn’t worth anything.”
Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct. (Gal. 6:4–5 nlt)
But could it be that sometimes we are better able to serve others through positions of influence? For some that answer will be yes, and if we do find ourselves in a position of power or influence, what an opportunity to model servant leadership! Embracing the spotlight with an obscurity of heart allows us to baffle the world with a counterintuitive, God-focused, self-denying, humble fame. Can you imagine the possibilities if we chose to use our positions to serve others rather than ourselves?
I don’t know everything.
I have limited time and energy.
I’m not morally invincible.
People who should know better, should know better.
I’m not irreplaceable.
not only have to choose humility; I have to work at it. And no one has to work at humility like a man or woman thrust into the spotlight. Not many of us will wake up to be international sensations, but most of us will hold some level of influence during our lives. Make no mistake, Jesus is talking to us. (Remember—fight self-deception!)
If you get down to the root of your motivations, you’ll likely find the hope of a reward for your efforts. Maybe you did it to enjoy a majestic view, or for prestige, money, freedom, or peace. Maybe it was as simple as knowing it would feel good to face a fear or conquer an unknown. Does doing something hard for some sort of reward automatically make you a selfish person? No, it makes you human. And guess what—Christ was human too.
Christ had much to look forward to in completing our redemption! Would Jesus have chosen obscurity, humiliation, and death without the promise of future reward? I don’t know. But it doesn’t really matter, does it? The good news is that He didn’t have to choose rewardless suffering, and neither do we. God has promised reward to all those who forgo pleasure in this life for His name’s sake.
enough. Just the promise of eternity in His presence (in His presence!) makes embracing obscurity—and every other sacrifice in this life—worth it. Amen? As David said, “When I awake, I will be satisfied with Your presence” (Ps. 17:15, emphasis added).
By serving others now, we get credited with serving Christ later.
