“Be Teachable. You’re Not Always Right.” – Toby Mac

While we did not talk about Toby Mac today in church, I thought about his words throughout the lessons of the  day.

One of my first thoughts, however, was about a passage in Luke that I bet I’ve read 10,000 times before and yet, I have failed to catch a  phrase that took on new meaning for me today. We were talking about the paralyzed man in the Book of Luke. His friends wanted Jesus to heal him. The friends laboriously sought a passageway through which they could bring the paralyzed man closer to Jesus. Ultimately, they settled on a plan to climb to the top of a roof and slowly lower the lame man from that roof.

I’ve heard that story many times before today, but I never before caught the following phrase just right:

 When Jesus saw THEIR faith, [not the paralyzed man’s faith but the faith of his friends], Jesus said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” Luke 5:20

Say what?

When Jesus saw the faith of the lame man’s friends…

I never quite caught that interpretation before today, and that was a message worth getting out of bed an hour earlier and attending Bible study to hear. Today my church taught me to hear something I had never heard before

Jesus healed the paralyzed man because he was in the company of people who had faith in Jesus.

Although I’m a big talker when I finally get out among people, I tend to be a loner. On many Sundays I have rationalized that I can read my Bible and worship at home. But worshipping at home alone [if I actually follow through and do it] is not the same as worshipping in a church.

A Church Is A Body of People

I have several weaknesses, and one of my infirmities is that I am easily discouraged and I easily become depressed. One of my more paralyzing bouts with depression was just before my daughter’s wedding. In the nick of time, my spirit improved. I have often told people, “I picked up my bed and walked.”

With those words, I was alluding to another story about another lame man who was healed by Jesus. But I missed the point of that story, too. In saying that I had “picked up my bed and walked,” I was selfishly maintaining that I had control over my well-being. I was suggesting that I was the healer. I, by my self-control and my movement toward self-improvement, had changed my life. I was suggesting that by my own strength, I had beat depression.

I wonder if the lame man who followed the challenge of Jesus in the Book of John said: “I picked up my bed and walked,” forgetting that he could only do so by the power of Jesus, The message in Luke is different. Jesus says that he was healing the paralyzed man in Lukw because of the faith of his friends; The paralyzed man needed both Jesus and the faith of his friends. In other words, I alone cannot fix much–but by the grace of God, through the power of Jesus, and through the encouragement of the church, I might have a chance.

What Is Humility?

My intention for today’s post was to explain what humility is, but that is a challenge too great for my limited vocabulary. I believe I have a better shot at suggesting what humility is not.

Reverend Nathan Hale in the book Hawaii is an example of what humility is not. He left the USA to “save” the pagan Hawaiians. Isn’t that the history of America’s religious fervor? When the early explorers landed in the USA, they felt the need to save the pagan Native Americans. The Europeans did not need to listen to anything the Native Americans had to say before they– the “Correct” ones landed. They [the Pious Europeans] had all the answers:

In the movie Hawaii, the closed-minded Reverend Abner Hale sought to convert the pagans on those islands.

At one point in the movie, Hale tried to tell a sweet Islander that she needed to be more humble. After Hale spelled out his interpretation of humility, the Hawaiian monarch, seeking to better understand, asked Hale, “Are you humble?”

Of course, Hale was not humble. He lacked humility so very much that he never questioned that he might not be humble. He felt that he was right about everything [when he was far off track].

I was taught several other things in church today. Most importantly, I was taught to better frame some of my pre-existing half-truths. [Is piety one’s hanging on to one’s half-truths?] I repeat this warning for myself:
“Be teachable. You’re not always right,” Toby Mac Even when I am half-right, I am not truly “right,”

Today at church, I was humbled by the fact that I have been trying to function with half-truths. I was also taught that I need other people and that other people who have much to teach me and to share with me.

Be Teachable – Be Humble

Initially, I titled this post: “What I Learned in Church Today.” But in writing this post, I realized that to say that would be half-truth. I did not merely stumble into a better understanding today, Someone opened my eyes and taught me to see things more fully.