The Powerful Paradox of Being Humble
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
These words were not written about September 11. They are the opening lines of the book written by Charles Dickens titled: "A Tale of Two Cities". The story takes place during the French Revolution in London and Paris. It’s about a family caught up in the best and worst of times. It’s about love, loyalty, intrigue and sacrifice. It’s about life. That’s why the line "It was the best of time, It was the worst of times" is so powerful.
All of life is a paradox. Two statements. Both opposites. Both True. We see it clearly in “A tale of two cities”. When Charles Dickens wrote this opening line in "A Tale of Two Cities" he caught the paradox of life itself in just a few well-chosen words. This opening sentence captures the joy and sorrow; ecstasy and tragedy; power and helplessness; as well as the good and evil in contained in every persons life.
We saw it clearly on September 11. We see it all around us every day if we will just look.
The Wisdom of James tells a tale – the tale of two selves. In James 4 he speaks of the "Selfish Self" which says, "I need to take care of ME!" and then he speaks of the "Selfless Self" which says, "I need to take care of YOU!”.
Both of these selves are in you. They are both in me. It is the best… and the worst of us all poured together in a fragile vessel for a bit of time. But the real paradox is contained within the two selves. The real paradox is that when you let loose the selfish self to take care of yourself – you lose. And when you give up everything to let loose the selfless self you gain it all.
It’s the powerful paradox of being humble. When you humble yourself - God lifts you up! Let’s explore the Wisdom of James in chapter 4…
THE SELFISH SELF
Selfish PLEASURES (verse 1)
Jam 4:1 CEV "Why do you fight and argue with each other? Isn’t it because you are full of selfish desires that fight to control your body?"
The word hedonism is used here and it means to so absorb in the pursuit of your own personal pleasure that you will do what ever you have to in order to please yourself.
Much like we see in the “reality shows” like Temptation Island or the new Love Cruise. This self will seek to make itself happy no matter the cost, no matter who it hurts. Dating shows. It’s all about me and my personal pleasure.
And there is no shame in it! It’s a matter of pride. I did a little search on the word "hedonism" on the internet and discovered that the Starfish resorts in Jamaica advertise their “Hedonism” packages with phrases like, “Be wicked for a week” and “Lush gardens of pure pleasure.” People aren’t even blushing over their selfish search for pleasure.
But the result is not pleasure… it’s fighting and arguing with each other. Wars start, people die because of this kind of shameless demanding of all the resources for me.
Abraham Lincoln was once asked why people in the world were so prone to fight. He pointed at three boys fighting in the yard and said that it was just like these three boys. They had two walnuts between them and and all three wanted them all.
Selfish PASSIONS (verse 2)
Jam 4:2 CEV "You want something you don’t have, and you will do anything to get it. You will even kill! But you still cannot get what you want, and you won’t get it by fighting and arguing. You should pray for it."
Is what James calls here “LUST” – that overwhelming, unhealthy and excessive craving to get what you want simply because you want it. That driving urge with a life of it’s own. That hunger that must be fed and will not be denied – even to the point that you will kill.
Selfish PLANS (verse 2)
Jam 4:2 CEV "You want something you don’t have, and you will do anything to get it. You will even kill! But you still cannot get what you want, and you won’t get it by fighting and arguing. You should pray for it."
Envy James says will drive a person to make plans and to fight and argue to get something to be the way they want it. When this self doesn’t get its way it will immediately start scheming to create an argument in order to stop someone else from getting what they want.
The Artesian Valley
John Hildebrand who has lived in the Artesian Valley, near Fowler, Kansas, since he was two years old, remembers why the valley has the name it does. "There were hundreds of natural springs in this valley. If you drilled a well for your house, the natural water pressure was enough to go through your hot-water system and out the shower head." There were marshes in Fowler in the 1920s, where cattle sank to their bellies in mud. And the early settlers went boating down Crooked Creek, in the shade of the cottonwoods, as far as Meade, twelve miles away.
Today the creek is dry, the bogs and the springs have gone, and the inhabitants of Fowler must dig deeper and deeper wells to bring up water. The reason is plain enough: seen from the air, the surrounding land is pockmarked with giant discs of green -- quarter-section pivot-irrigation systems water rich crops of corn, steadily depleting the underlying aquifer. Everybody in Fowler knows what is happening, but it is in nobody’s interest to cut down his own consumption of water. That would just leave more for somebody else.
Five thousand miles to the east, near the Spanish city of Valencia, the waters of the River Turia are shared by some 15,000 farmers in an arrangement that dates back at least 550 years and probably longer. Each farmer, when his turn comes, takes as much water as he needs from the distributory canal and wastes none. He is discouraged from cheating -- watering out of turn -- merely by the watchful eyes of his neighbors above and below him on the canal. If they have a grievance, they can take it to the Tribunal de las Aguas, which meets on Thursday mornings outside the Apostles’ door of the Cathedral of Valencia. Records dating back to the 1400s suggest that cheating is rare. The huerta of Valencia is a profitable region, growing at least two crops a year.
Two irrigation systems: one sustainable, equitable, and long-lived, the other a doomed free-for-all. Two case histories cited by political scientists who struggle to understand the persistent human failure to solve "common-pool resource problems." The only way to avoid abuse is self restraint. And yet nobody knows how best to persuade the human race to exercise self-restraint.
Matt Ridley and Bobbi S. Low, The Atlantic Monthly, September 1993. Adapted.
THE SELFLESS SELF
The Paradox of Pride
Jam 4:6 CEV "In fact, God treats us with even greater kindness, just as the Scriptures say, "God opposes "everyone who is proud, but he is kind to everyone who is humble."
So many people are proud… They revel in what they have accomplished, in what they have accumulated, or what others have said about them. Many are even proud of their physical strength, pleasing appearance, or youthful looks. But, you’ve heard the proverb, “Pride goes before the fall”. What you have and hold onto in pride you will someday lose.
Girolamo Savonarola was one of the great preachers of the fifteenth century. He preached in the great cathedral of Florence, Italy, which contained a magnificent marble statue of the Virgin Mary. When Savonarola started preaching at this great cathedral, he noticed one day an elderly woman praying before this statue of Mary. He then began to notice that it was her habit to come every day and pray before the statue.
Savonarola remarked one day to an elderly priest who had been serving in the cathedral for many years, "Look how devoted and earnest this woman is. Every day she comes and offers prayers to the blessed Mother of Jesus. What a marvelous act of faith." But the elderly priest replied, "Do not be deceived by what you see. Many years ago when the sculptor needed a model to pose for this statue of the blessed Mother, he hired a beautiful young woman to sit for him. This devout worshiper you see here everyday is that young woman. She is worshiping who she used to be."
The first and perhaps the deadliest of the seven deadly sins is pride. The Oxford Dictionary defines pride as an "unduly high opinion of one’s own qualities, merits, that is, an arrogant bearing." In other words, pride is self-love that says, "I’m better than you." You see pride in others when someone makes a boast of his or her accomplishment as though you are expected to pay homage.
The Paradox of Being Humble
What you let go of and sacrifice you will someday gain. The Paradox of humbling your self and then receiving honored from God is a very real truth. The first shall be last. And the last shall be first. This is the way of God. Humble yourself and he will lift you up and honor you. We have three great promises given us in this passage
Surrender then RESIST – and the devil MUST flee (verse 7)
Jam 4:7 CEV " Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you."
This to me is one of the greatest promises… Can you imagine that if you submit your life to God that even Satan himself has to obey when you resist him? God promises that if you submit to him and resist the temptations of the enemy he will flee! You will win. You have to surrender first!
Come Near then REPENT – and God will come near (verse 8)
Jam 4:8 CEV "Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you people who can’t make up your mind."
This verse also carries a very powerful promise. There is a very important placement to the way it is written. First the promise, if you will draw near – He will draw near to you. Now in order to draw near to God you must be willing to put yourself aside.
The closer you get to God the more God can change you! He does the changing in you after you draw near to him. This is one of the reasons that worship, Bible reading, prayer, and fellowship with believers is so important.
Secondly note that He doesn’t say, “get yourself cleaned up then come…” He says, come… put yourself aside and then repent. “You mean I don’t have to get my act together to come near to God?” That’s right…He says come as you are first… NOW THAT’S A WONDERFUL PROMISE…
Humble Yourself then RELENT – and God will bless (verse 10)
Jam 4:10 CEV "Be humble in the Lord’s presence, and he will honor you."
Some people can “repent” all day long about everything. That is they feel terrible about what they did, honestly. But they will not RELENT their selfish ways.
Their hearts just won’t soften and once they have had a good cry, their motives will turn right back around to pleasing themselves.
But the promise here is that if you will be humble and relent the hardened and selfish ways that God will lift you up, that is to intensify a feeling of joy, peace and satisfaction in your life… which is what we strive for… but only the selfless self will truly result in that blessing.
So How does it work?
I don’t know – it’s a paradox! I just know it works. It may seem backwards but it works!
In his sermon, "The Wisdom of Small Creatures," Haddon Robinson says, "A while ago I was trying to fix our garage door. I came to that one screw I had to get loose, and the more I worked to loosen that screw, the tighter it seemed to get. A neighbor came over and saw my plight. He looked for a moment and then said that I had a reverse screw. You have to tighten or loosen it going in the opposite direction.’
"It took me fifty years to find out how screws work, and now they change the rules! There’s a sense in which all of the Bible is kind of a reverse screw. Everything in the culture that seems right, in the Bible comes out wrong. The way up is the way down."
The Living Bible says it this way… “…He will lift you up, encourage and help you.”
I just know that the selfless self will effect every aspect of your life, just as the selfish self will. But here the results are positive, joyful, peaceful and eternal.
WHICH SELF WILL YOU CHOSE TODAY?
Every day you have to choose! It isn’t a one time decision. It’s a daily decision. You must choose every day to either live according to the pattern of the selfish self or the selfless self.
One works and the other doesn’t but you have to decided every day.
