Humility

A good portion of the sermon on Sunday was about humility this week. There were some great illustrations: humility is like allowing God to take what you believe to be the finished portrait of your life and return it to blank canvas. That's a wonderous picture of brokenness, isn't it. To me, it's like God saying, "I know you think that what you've made or what I've made in you is neat, but that's nothing, I have more for you, but you have to let go of this." And then there are times when we wish that we *could* be a blank canvas again, but it seems like way too much to ask.

A definition of humility: "Lowly thinking, the quality of esteeming ourselves as small, but at the same time recognizing the power of God in us." How difficult it is to hang on to both of those things! I was explaining just how huge the universe is to my son the other day. In his seven year old wisdom, he took it in stride---yeah, yeah, a million earths fit in our sun, nearest star so many light years away, pretty far, but I can take it in... But we are small beyond all reckoning in this universe made by a frightfully huge God. A childish mind refuses to recognize this.

Here's a sermon quote that I jotted down to ponder: "Our trust in our intellect prevents us from experiencing true humility." The idea that thinking and talking and ideas are of limited value is a perspective that is pretty pervasive in this body--the word "theology" is a dirty word, used to express ideas that have no connection to spirituality, Pharisees were in to it. Maybe it's more a denomination-wide conviction, because the last Foursquare pastor preached for a very long time on "The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but a matter of Power."

"Our trust in our intellect prevents us from experiencing true humility." I think this is a statement to be handled with care. Trust in *any* of our faculties above the goodness of God is a road to destruction. But is thinking itself suspect? I wish I could understand better this danger the pastor saw. Maybe it goes like this: "I can understand everything, God really isn't that mighty, and I don't really need him to save me, per se." Or maybe thinking one is dumb is equivilent to humility? I can't buy that. Our little pea brains have very little capacity to grasp the created, let along the uncreated, and yet we were made to apprehend God, and to have faith, which is an adherence to an *idea* which lives in our pea brains. He's given us capacity that we are expected to use to pursue him. (Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.)

It seems to me that there is an undeniably cerebral aspect to our walk with God. We have the life of God in our Spirit, and as we submit to it with each bit of our soul, we take on the flavor of that reality. Our brain is part of our soul, and it is indeed the portion of us that, as it is renewed, allows us to perceive the will of God: Rom 12:22 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will. " From that, it seems really obvious that the activities of our intellect--thoughts, ideas, words, concepts and beliefs--are a key aspect to bring into line with the Spirit. So, I have to trust that God will do that in me, trust that He is acting in process of renewing my mind to bring my intellect into line. That doesn't amount to trusting in my ability to think better than God, it just means that I recognize that God desires my mind to be conformed to the truth.

If anyone has more thoughts on how trusting our intellect could keep us from trusting God, I invite you to comment.