The Offer of Lowliness

God lives and works today. He can totally change and transform people's lives if only they let Him. Would you like your life to be different? Would you like to see some changes in the people around you? Today's meditation by Basilea Schlink will tell what you can do to bring about these changes.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has loved us more than any human being could ever love us. His disciple John writes about his love, saying, Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. In the last hour of his time on earth, he showed his love by laying upon the hearts of his disciples and upon ours today what he regards as the most important, the most precious thing for our lives.

Jesus knelt down before his disciples and washed their feet. In this way he imprinted upon their hearts and ours the fact that our lives are to be marked by his lowliness. But what does it look like in everyday life when we accept Jesus' offer of lowliness and choose his way? I know a carpenter who is a good man and loved the Lord very much, but he simply couldn't bear injustice in humble silence.

Once, when he came to a retreat on Canaan, he received a saying for the coming year about the lowliness of Jesus. Your Lord and Savior is Jesus the Lamb. Be gentle, and as a man of meekness, you shall rule over others and govern with authority by the Spirit of the Lamb.

Struck by the seriousness of this word, he immediately thought of one of his workers who was so hard to get along with. A battle started to rage in his heart. What would happen if he went the way of Jesus' lowliness while this worker was there? Wouldn't the other person get the upper hand even more and push him into a corner? In his prayer time, the carpenter read this word about the lowliness of Jesus over and over again.

Finally, he struggled in prayer, saying, Jesus, you were the most lowly one of all. Please stay in my thoughts. I want to choose your way of lowliness, no matter what it costs.

With this surrender, the carpenter went to work the next morning. And what happened? The other worker was suddenly completely changed. Instead of quarreling and arguing and trying to humiliate the carpenter, he was quiet and friendly.

He silently did the work he was told to. It was the same way the following days. It seemed as though an evil power that had ruled over the worker had been broken.

The carpenter could only be amazed. He had never expected Jesus' response to be so real. But this is the way Jesus acts.

All of us may experience this if we accept his offer of lowliness and are prepared to choose Jesus' way in everyday life, in living together with difficult people, whether it be at home or at work. That can be painful. But at the same time, it brings peace and joy to us and others with whom we work and live.

And in eternity, it brings great fruit and glory, for Jesus has promised us, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Yes, blessed are those who are willing to humble themselves and follow Jesus on this way of lowliness. Oh, make me Thine, my Savior, Lord most holy, that I may only live to give Thee glory.

Oh, make me Thine. You have been listening to a program written by Basilea Schlink of the Little Land of Canaan. To learn more about how God lives and works today, visit us at our website, www.canaan.org. That's K-A-N-A-A-N dot org.

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