THE RICH ARE RARELY HUMBLE!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY DECEMBER 9, 2019.

SUBJECT : THE RICH ARE RARELY HUMBLE!

Memory verse: "Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack; Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take the cross and follow Me." 

(Mark 10 vs 21.)

READ: Mark 10 vs 22 - 25:

10:22: But he was sad at this word, and went away  sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 

10:23: Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!"

10:24: And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!

10:25: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

INTIMATION:

To be rich is to be affluent, wealthy, having a large fortune. The rich are people with great financial resources, having an abundant supply of desirable qualities or substances. Such people anchor their trust in their riches because they believe with their riches they can get all they want—the financial security they have is all they need to be secure in a life. Consequently, It is usually hard to find humble people among the rich because they believe they all it takes to have all their needs met. Obviously, money represents power, authority, and success, hence it is often difficult for rich people to realize their ultimate need in life, and the powerlessness of their riches to save them. The rich in talent or intelligence suffer the same difficulty; they often put their trust in their intellect and abilities. 

A person's wealth usually makes life comfortable, and gives him or her power and prestige, hence they trust in their wealth as the very basis of their security and identity. They have what they want or can easily buy what the want. They are influential, praised, honored, and popular. Therefore, it is rather difficult for them to humble themselves to serve. It is difficult for self-sufficient persons to realize the need of Jesus in their lives, Unless God reaches down into their lives, they will not come back to Him. They do not realize that is God who owns all things—the world and its fullness (Psalm 24 vs 1; 89 vs 11), and "no man receives anything unless is given to him from heaven" (John 3 vs 27). Therefore, it is more secured to put your trust in the Giver and the gift. 

Humility signifies low-lying—lowliness of mind; modest, not prideful, submissive, deferential, and meek. These character traits are often lacking in the rich, because riches are mostly the worldly standard of evaluating success and achievement, and eventually cause the rich to think highly or too much about themselves. Evaluating yourself by the worldly standards of success and achievement can cause you to think too much about your worth in the eyes of others and thus miss your true value in God's eyes. The key to an honest and accurate evaluation is knowing the basis of our self-worth—our identity in Christ. Apart from Him, we aren't capable of very much by eternal standards. In Him we are valuable and capable of worthy service. 

Humility will not allow you to be influenced by praise, honor, and popularity. It helps you not to allow popularity to twist your perception of your own importance. It is comparatively easy to be humble when you're not on center stage, but when praised, pride and arrogance usually come in. Consider the incident in our memory verse and the passage in Mark we read today. Jesus is not asking believers to sell all their possessions. Most of His followers did not sell everything, although they used their possessions to serve others. Instead, this incident shows us that we must not let our possessions keep us from following Jesus. We must remove all barriers to serving Him fully, humbling ourselves before the Lord.

Let us not loose sight of the end result of all our humility and self-sacrifice—a joyous banquet with our Lord! God never asks us to suffer for the sake of suffering. He never asks us to give up something good unless He plans to replace it with something even better. Jesus is not calling us to join Him in a labor camp but in feast—the marriage super of the Lamb (Revelation 19 vs 6 - 9), when God and His beloved church will be joined forever.

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of humility, that I may humble myself before You at all times, being secured in You, and nothing created by You will take the first place in my life, rather than You, the Creator, in Jesus' Name I prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!