When does humility become subservience, when does the way that we think about ourselves become demeaning in our own eyes, and are there times when this is appropriate. Christ was the most humble person who ever lived, by His examples we are taught how to walk in accordance to the will of God, yet He was direct in His resolve to speak the Truth firmly, He did not pull any punches, as it were, those who needed compassion were shown compassion, those who needed to understand that they were in direct violation of the precepts of God were told so, the Truth was always spoken.
Far too many who call themselves Christians today fear to speak the Truth, whether it be in a crowd or individually to a lost soul, or in reproof and correction of a brother in Christ, yet they continue to view themselves as humble, walking in humility before the Lord. They are by doing this putting themselves willingly into a position of subservience, acquiescing to the perceptions of others, seeking the praise of men instead of the things of God, and by doing so they are not portraying the image of Christ, in either a positive or negative way. These are concerned with self, and have mistakenly replaced humility with a form of self-depreciation, ingratiating themselves before others, instead of walking in the confidence of the Truths of the Scriptures. In other words, as it used to be said, they have no backbone, they are weak by their own design, and have not become strong in the confidence of the One they are to serve.
This is not apathy, for the ones we are speaking of here are not the lost, they are not pretenders, they truly are the children of God, but they are still trying to serve men without the intent of serving Christ first, they do not need physical pain or imprisonment and torture to compromise their walk, simple words will do it just as well, they hide from the work they are to be doing, the commandments of our Lord, either in fear of the retribution of these they are to be speaking to, or in the fear of possibility of offending, either way fear of personal loss in the eyes of others is almost always the driving factor for their lack of inaction. There seems to be a continuous cycle with these individuals, they receive an opportunity to speak of the wonders of Christ, they fail miserably because of a lack of confidence and the misplaced perceptions of what those they are speaking to may think of them personally, they return home, the task not completed as it should have been, asking the Lord to forgive them, feeling badly about themselves for they are well aware they should have done more, the Lord gives them another opportunity, and they repeat the cycle. They have become subservient to the perception of others, and begin to see themselves as unprofitable, and if the cycle continues, they will be.
There is a place, as it were, for door keepers in the Kingdom of God, (Psalm 84:10) but we must recall the parable of the sower that our Lord gave us, (Matt. 13:3-23) and place it were it needs to be in this topic of conversation, the seed that grew brought forth 30, 60, or 100 fold. A seed does no good unless it goes into the ground and dies first, (John 12:24) but too many who call themselves Christians are not willing to do this, they hold a sign up to God, as it were, that says you can have all of me but this part, and many times that particular piece of them that they want to retain for themselves is the one that they want those of the world to like about them, again, seeking the praise of men. They will tithe and more, they will pray and seek His face for guidance, they will not only attend church regularly but even be a functional part within it, these will read and study His word and even apply some of it, but they mistakenly understand the humility they are to have in Christ as one of subservience to their fellow man, and so they walk without confidence, the fear of offending has been replaced for the walk of confidence, the perception of what people may think about them is set in place above their concern for what Christ’s thoughts are about them.
In the lives of these individuals, the sins of others, whether they be saved or lost, are left unchecked and unspoken, even when they know that they are being prompted by the Holy Spirit to say something, they may full well pray for the individual in question, but they will in no way determine themselves to be the one that Christ is wanting to use to bring these people to the knowledge of that sin within them. “What would they think of me” has replaced the commandment of love. The sin is left to fester and grow, they see the effects of it in the life of the individual, they say nothing about it, and then when the sin bears its fruit, they feel bad about themselves for not saying anything, a vicious circle indeed. There is only one answer here my friends, you have to stop thinking and caring about what others think about you in these situations, you need to be Christlike and in love speak the Truth, no matter the consequences, no matter how fearful you are, no matter what they think about you when you do so.
What do you think was in our Lord’s mind when He told the Pharisees that their father was the devil, that they were going to respond, “You’re right, thanks for informing me, I’ll change my ways immediately.” And your subservient to the world because they might not like you? How do you think that’s going to go over as an excuse when you stand before Him on that day, “Well Lord, I didn’t want to offend anyone by telling them the truth, what would they think of me?” And we do not have to even go so far as to speak of the religious hypocrisy that is permeating the world, think of one person that you know in your heart that is a brother in Christ who is trapped by their own will in a sin, why not speak with him, what about that lost soul at work, the one down the street, pick anyone and then try to make yourself believe that you will have the same confidence that you have right now while you are reading this that you will when you meet them. Serving is an action, usually by commandment, and of course by our own free will, subservience is acquiescing to the demands and pressure of others that we allow to modify the service to Christ that we are to adhere to, in other words, trying to serve more than one master, Christ, ourselves, and the perceptions of how we want others to see us. I would pick the first one of those personally, but that decision is entirely up to you.
If you know for a fact that the world is going to hate you because they hated Him first, (John 15:18) then why are you concerned about people liking you, seems like a rather dysfunctional thought process, doesn’t it? You know the Word of God is Truth, you know what you have been commanded to do with this Truth for the sake of others, you know they’re going to hate you for telling them these truths, but you fear to do so because they might not like you, sure, makes perfect sense to me. The last fear that perfect love casts out, (John 4:18) is the fear of what others will think of us. You know that Jesus loves you, you know and believe that He has promised to never leave you or forsake you, so why would you continue to forsake those around you by not speaking the Truth’s of Scripture to them, why are you still afraid of them, don’t want to hurt their feelings? How much do you think God is going to hurt that brother in Christ if he doesn’t turn from that sin he is in, how much do you think He is going to hurt that unrepentant sinner if he dies in his sins, and your concerned with hurting his feelings?
Our Lord is not overly concerned with how you feel when it comes to obeying His commandments, you are to be subject to His will, as He was to the Fathers, do you think it felt good to hang on that cross? You are a servant, a bond-slave to Christ, you are not to be subservient to the will of man, die to self, and then you will be able to truly understand what humility means, see Him as Sovereign, and you will become humble, stop being overly concerned with what people will think about you, and you will become a profitable servant, bring the love of Christ to them, no matter what it costs you, remember what it cost Him.
