Experiencing humility begins with the realization that we’re a wreck. It’s coming to the realization that there’s more to taking blood pressure medication because several of your family members do. Then there’s the short fuse that you realize you can no longer attribute to people cutting you off in traffic or that guy at work who agitates you with stories about his in laws making unannounced visits. Then too, there’s the lifelong struggle with an illness that you’ve seen several specialists for, but still results in a diminished quality of life.
So, you realize the conditions and circumstances mentioned above are part of a greater problem. That greater problem is that we’re broken by nature. That brokenness didn’t just start from our beginning but from the choice that the first human being made to break an arrangement put in place by God our maker. That choice brought suffering and death to every man and woman who came after him, leaving them in misery, with an inner corruption and malice towards others.
However, a new arrangement was put in place by our Maker. Notice that once again this arrangement was not by the initiative of man. This arrangement also known as a covenant, was given to man so he could receive the favor from his Maker that he had lost and no longer deserved. Initially it involved those with greater privilege and authority interceding for others by shedding the blood of animals. In the fullness of time, however, a New Covenant was established by the shedding of one man’s blood in death on behalf of many. This man, God’s Son in the flesh, came from Heaven, was born of a virgin and given the name Jesus, and lived a life of perfect obedience. By all this, He became the perfect intercessor for corrupt, miserable, and dying people. Raised from the dead He went on to take the place of those of those who had made sacrifices and interceded on behalf of others before Him.
We are blessed knowing that God our Maker continues to meet us where we are in our brokenness, even though we never cease turning our back on Him. He sent His Son to make us right with Him and to completely transform us. Humbled in our corruption and misery, we recognize our complete need for Him to bring our souls into right relationship with Him. Furthermore, we see that it is only by His hand that we will no longer be broken, and He promises that to us in Jesus His Son.
So, where are you in your spiritual journey? Have you considered beginning one? Some things said here like recognizing your brokenness and the need to be made right with God and to experience a complete transformation are a great place to start. Knowing that it is God the Heavenly Father who initiates the Covenants is also a great place to start. Especially so, when we consider Psalm 14:2-3 which states, The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
With that said, the next step in your spiritual journey is to look to Jesus, whose blood as mentioned was shed to initiate the New Covenant. In John 14:6 He declared, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. In 1 Timothy 2:5 we also see that Jesus unites us with the Father: ‘For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.’ Being united with the Father means that we are completely forgiven and our corrupt nature or one might say our rotten roots are replaced with healthy ones that are repeatedly cleansed with living water. This is salvation and with it comes hope that Jesus will return and restore everything to a state of paradise.
In His Image 