If I say “I love Appeal for Purity,” will you be surprised? I hope not. I do love Appeal for Purity. I love the name itself. It is just unique and different and the name says everything what this ministry is all about, doesn’t it!
Happy 5th year anniversary to Appeal for Purity (A4P)!
Today is the 6th day I’ve been celebrating the anniversary with you by sharing with you at least one or two lessons God had taught me through these past five years. Thank you guys for riding along with me.
So, let me share with you one passage of Scripture that ushers me into the one lesson I learned:
“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”” (Luke 17:7-10)
It is easy to understand the above passage, am I right? Jesus is saying that we are servants of God and when we come back from work, all we have to say is: “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”
Hmm! That is a very humble thing to say and I think I tried to say this statement right after I finish teaching or helping someone cope with life.
But slowly, it lost its flavor in my mouth and I stopped saying it. Why? My heart was not sync with this truth because my mind didn’t really get the message.
You see, as workers/laborers in the Kingdom of God, one thing should be very clear for us, i.e., there is no credit due to us, to the workers, but to the One who sent us.
You may agree with that statement saying, “Of course! Jesus takes all the credit!”
But the problem with me was not to say this one statement but to believe it with all my heart before I say it in mouth.
Let me give you one simple example:
I mean you know that it ain’t easy to prepare a message, especially a spiritual message. After you work hard for hours to outline your teaching, your heart may say, “I don’t like it.” So, you change your mind and start all over again. After many trials, you will have the message to present to others. Then after you present your message, when you receive positive comments about the message from others, you get tempted to give yourself a pat on the back and say to yourself, “Good job! Oh, my! I’m impressed by you! You are good! Look how many people are appreciating and admiring you!”
The problem with that is, with the example I gave, I did absolutely nothing! From the beginning to the end, God is the Author of every step. To mention a few, He is the one who gives me a desire and strength to prepare a teaching. He is the one who makes my mind sharp so I can focus on the main point. He gives me health and a nice place to quietly sit and prepare my teaching. He is the one who opens to me different doors so I can share my message with others. He is the one who is helping others to hear the message and respond. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit who makes it all to happen.
So, taking pride, expecting some recognition or credit from the work I do is not only wrong but futile because “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)
God wants us to be humble, not prideful but only the truth of God can make us humble not our doing. When we come to know and understand how God is the Alpha and the Omega in His Kingdom work, we see it clearly that after all we are actually “unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”
Wow! Did you see that?
So, as a worker in the Kingdom of God, I’m still learning and trying to grasp the truth about me and the God I serve. Jesus is telling me in Luke 17:10 that I should not forget what is true about me so I don’t end up saying just like King Nebuchadnezzar, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30)
Guess what happened to him right away?
“Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.” (Daniel 4:31-32)
Scary, isn’t it!
The thing is we all have this kind of deceitful heart especially those of us who are standing behind the pulpit or lead a ministry or a church. May God save us from our own hearts!
So, my prayer often goes like this: Abba, help me never to forget who I am, that I am but only dust and who You are, the Eternal, immutable, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God.
“For he (God) knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.” (Psalm 103:14) ///