Day 26 - What’s In It For Me?

“God made the world out of nothing, and so long as we are nothing, He can make something out of us.” - Martin Luther

Years ago, I was asked by a ministry leader what our ministry does. I shared that one of our goals was to share the gospel with every home in our community. He responded that it was interesting to see younger ministers devoting themselves to that focus when "in the prime of their ministry career." He added that, "Usually, you see ministers doing that at the end of their ministry days, after they have built their ministry career and their prime has passed."

I felt sick to my stomach as I internalized his words. There are actually ministry leaders throughout America that believe directly sharing the gospel is something that you should leave for the waning years of your ministry. Imagine the transformation that would take place in our city streets if the Body of Christ solely focused on the same unmatched love that motivated Jesus to seek and save that which was lost. Regardless of what kind of kingdom we were trying to build before we met Him, His Kingdom is now the only one worth furthering. I'm broken for all the ministries turned businesses, but I'm more broken for a Bride who doesn't see Christ's worth, because she isn't truly looking upon Him. If we would see Him rightly, we wouldn't miss His worth.

We don’t strive to see Jesus rightly in hopes that we'll then be great at sharing our faith. It's not a formulaic equation. This isn’t about accomplishing ministry "success." It is simply about making Him everything to us. This is living out Matthew 13:44: "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

If we correctly view Jesus, we will be correctly positioned in humility, (Eph. 4:1-2), ones who "love not their lives unto death" (Rev. 12:11). We often look for opportunities to say "yes" to Him when it elevates us, but we miss that His very existence demands us to go lower. Often, we think humility is the absence of pride, but in reality, the absence of pride is merely the evidence that some measure of humility exists. True humility is the complete absence of “self” and the total occupation of Him, overtaken by the One who washes the feet of those around him (John 13:12-16).

The word "humility" comes from the Latin root: "humilis", meaning "on the ground; from earth".This is the original “positioning” of man at creation, molded from the very dust of the earth itself. There could be no greater representation of this than the words of John the Baptist as his disciples asked why people were now leaving him to go be baptized by Jesus:

"He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease. 'He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.'" - John 3:29-31

John the Baptist is beheaded soon after this. He gave of himself freely, because he had found the One worth giving it all for.

So, what's in it for us? We get to die to ourselves, that our joy will be complete by watching the Bride be introduced to her Bridegroom. We get a front-row seat to eternity's greatest love story.

Challenge: Read this short list of Biblical examples of what happens when humanity experiences the Lord in His glory. Watch as they immediately take a position of humility, literally falling to the ground. Let's meditate on this idea and its spiritual implications as we take the same position and see Him rightly.

- Revelation 1:17, Matthew 17:6, Acts 7:31-32, Revelation 4:9-10.