A Worm

Have you ever felt like your character was in question?

Have you ever felt like you weren't trusted?

Have you ever felt misunderstood?

Have you ever felt evaluated and found wanting?

You know why all of those things feel so terrible when we experience them? 

It's because we love ourselves.

We can be so consumed with 'me' that any attack against this obsession leaves us angry, resentful, and defensive. 

So why not defend our honor and set the record straight? 

Isn't that only fair? 

Isn't that just?

Well, we will almost always react rather than respond.

We will almost always bring others lower in order to raise ourselves higher.

We will almost always give in to arrogance before all is said and done. 

Hallelujah! There is good news in all of this! 

We have the most beautiful example in Jesus; the most misunderstood man.

His character was questioned, and he did not defend.

He was not trusted, but he did not react.

He was misunderstood, and continued to puzzle the masses.

His reputation was drug through the mud, but he showed us meakness.

"In a pathetic passage in a prophetic psalm, He (Jesus) says,

'I am a worm, and no man.'

Those who have been in tropical lands tell us the difference between a snake and a worm, when you attempt to strike at them. The snake rears itself up and hisses and tries to strike back- a true picture of self. But a worm offers no resistance, it allows you to do what you like with it, kick it or squash it under your heel- a picture of true brokenness." Roy Hession - The Calvary Road

The cross is the most relevant message to me daily. 

I don't ever graduate from this lesson.

The cross isn't our 'stepping stone' onto bigger and better things.

The cross needs to be ever before me, or else I quickly begin to wander. 

"Brokenness in daily experience is simply the response of humility to the conviction of God. And inasmuch as this conviction is continuous, we shall need to be broken continually. And this can be very costly, when we see all the yielding of rights and selfish interests that this will involve, and the confessions and restitutions that may be sometimes necessary. For this reason, we are not likely to be broken except at the cross of Jesus. The willingness of Jesus to be broken for us is the all-compelling motive in our being broken too." Roy Hession

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Oh Lord, give me grace to follow in this beautiful example.