A lesson In Humbleness

by Dennis Mixer

So, there I was, in Honduras, living at the old orphanage and driving 5 miles to the new orphanage every day to work. Then the news came, Carlos was leaving for Guatamala the next week to work on a feeding center there for 1½ months and will be taking the IMI pickup. This wasn't totally unexpected. I had known Carlos would be going for sometime, though inwardly I was hoping it wouldn't be until November, when I was in the states.

My options were taking a taxi, which would cost half of my daily income, or walking.
Well, Satan did his best to bring me down, which he has been trying to do a lot of lately.
As I was sitting there moping about this, a verse came into my head, (that's how God talks to me sometimes). The verse was Luke 14:11 "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Now, normally, when a verse pops into my head, I understand what it is God's trying to tell me. This time I had to stop and think about it. It wasn't as though I was selfish about the truck, whenever possible I would give rides to people I saw walking.

As I was thinking God gave me a clue. All he said was “What makes you better than the people I sent you to serve?”

Immediately, in my mind I saw the old lady (she looks to be in her 70's) that lives up the road from the new orphanage. I saw her, almost daily, walking into Comayagua as was almost to work.
Then I thought of the times I'd complained about the roof leaking, and the times I've driven down the street on a rainy night and seen people wrapped in plastic, trying to stay dry so they can get some sleep on the sidewalk.
I thought about the times I grumbled about eating beans and rice (again), when I've seen kids digging through garbage bags, looking for something to eat.
I thought about complaining because I had to carry water up a flight of stairs to bathe or flush the toilet when I've seen people bathing in a river that looks like flowing mud. And I thought about the homes I've been in that have a hole in the ground outside that they call a bathroom.
I've commented on how long the hotplate at the old orphanage takes to cook Ramon noodles, yet daily I see people, as young as 6 and as old as the lady I mentioned above, carrying bundles of firewood so their meals can be cooked.
I could go on about what I've complained about, the lack of lighting in my room, my fan broke, no privacy etc. etc. etc. but it all comes down to one thing, it's better than what a lot of the people have.

So, yes, I had exalted myself to a point. Maybe a little lesson in humbleness was in line.
Maybe as Christians we all need to look at what we take for granted and complain about when we don't have it. Maybe if we looked at our fellow man more closely we would spend more time giving thanks to God for what he has allowed us to have instead of complaining that we don't have.

One final note in this chapter. I use e-sword as my computer bible program. I have it set up to show Daily devotionals the first time I open the program for the day. When I opened the program to get the scripture for this, the scripture used for the devotional was 2Chronicles 33:12-13 When he was in distress, he entreated the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

Do You Truly Fast
By Dennis Mixer

"Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed, And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD? Isaiah 58:5
What type of fasting do you do?
For some fasting is simply refraining from one or two pleasures. For others fasting is giving up all food and spending all spare time in prayer and studying the Bible instead of doing other activities such as watching television.
But what is it that GOD says fasting is?
"Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And break every yoke? "Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Isaiah 58:6,7
How different this is from the traditional fasting. How much more involved in the teachings of Jesus.

I have often heard my friend and president of Impact Ministries International, Tom Stamman, say how hard it is to sit and eat a cheese burger knowing that there are people eating out of a garbage pile. That is how every Christian should feel. The problem with many Christians is they have distanced themselves from those in need. They live in their middle class homes and never see the needs of their fellow man.

But what about Jesus' teaching on fasting?
Traditional fasting is obviously important. Jesus told the people that when they Go without food they should wash their face and comb their hair so that their fasting should be seen by God only. (Matthew 6:17,18) I find it interesting that this verse is followed by his instructions on not storing treasures on earth, but in Heaven..for your heart is where your riches are. (Mat 6:19-21)
How important is charity to God?
Paul tells us the importance of helping others when he tells new Christians how to live in Ephesians 4:28 Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need.
Paul didn't say get a job and support yourself, he told them to work so they could take care of others in need.

What can You do?
Not every Christian is called to go to another country, or even to another area of their own country. The mission field is right outside the doors of your church, and of your home. Most churches have programs to help those in need, or to support missions. If your church doesn't, pray and ask God what kind of program you can start. Maybe it's a food pantry or a clothes closet to help those in need. Maybe it fund raisers to help support missionaries in other parts of the world. What ever you do, it's important, For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. James 2:26

True Fasting has a promise.
"Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 "Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; You will cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 And if you give yourself to the hungry, And satisfy the desire of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness, And your gloom will become like midday.
11 "And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Isaiah 58:8